Wandsworth Children’s Social Services Occupational Therapy (CSS OT)

Who we are

The Wandsworth Children’s Social Services Occupational Therapy (CSS OT) service is a statutory service for children and young people (aged 0-17 years) with a disability or long term condition, living in Wandsworth Borough Council.

The aim of the service is to support a child or young person and their carers to manage everyday tasks.  To do this we may recommend changes to the way that the task is done or adaptations to the environment.

The CSS OT service is based at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton, working closely with the Children’s Community Occupational Therapists also based there.

We can be contacted by telephoning 0208 725 3632, or email cssot.referrals@stgeorges.nhs.uk

How to refer

The CSSOT is a self-referral service.

To be eligible, the child or young person has to have a long term physical, and/or neurological condition that is hampering their ability to manage independently within their home environment.  This may include:

• Moving and handling concerns (from being lifted and carried).
• Access issues into or around the home, including the child’s bedroom, toilet, washing facilities, or the garden.
• Postural management; identifying need for help with seating at home.
• Severe learning disabilities and / or challenging behaviour at home that puts the child and/or their care giver at high risk of injury or is having an effect on meeting siblings’ essential needs (and development).

All referrals are screened, and must be completed in full.

What happens at an assessment?

To enable us to identify a child or young person’s needs and abilities in all activities of daily living (ADL), a CSS OT will conduct an assessment with your child at home. The assessments are carried out through clinical observations, seating assessment, equipment demonstrations and discussion.  Areas of assessment will include, but not be limited to; getting in, out and around the home, bed, bath, and chair, how the child washes or is facilitated to wash and dress; and eating and drinking.  Dependent on outcome of initial assessment, further assessment may be required, to ascertain how to best meet some of the identified needs.

Recommendations may include:

• Support to review and change the way that a task is performed, including advice and teaching alternative ways of doing things to increase independence
• Provision of equipment, to enable safe access to bathing or toileting facilities – including bath-boards, bath seats and bath steps, and commode chairs.
• Provision of complex and/or specialist equipment, to facilitate activities of daily living – including washing, play and toileting.
• Minor adaptations – including grab rails or mop-stick style stair rails
• Offering advice on managing mobility and transfers safely, including the completion of manual handling risk assessments, care plans and demonstrations, this may include the recommendation of hoisting equipment or adaptations to install this.
• Recommending housing adaptations which may include ramps, step lifts, stair lifts, through-floor lifts, door widening, ceiling track hoists, and level access showers. For adaptations to be undertaken, permission of the property owner is required. Funding and the on-going maintenance of such works will be dependent on who owns the property.
• Referring to the Richmond and Wandsworth Home Improvement Agency (HIA) to facilitate the ‘necessary and appropriate’ and ‘reasonable and practicable’adaptations to the property, this may include the management of the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG).
• Referring to other appropriate agencies when necessary, including Social Work Teams, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, and other therapeutic services.
• Signposting to other services that may be better suited to meeting your child’s needs.

Please be aware that specialist equipment is provided on a loans basis – for as long as it’s needed and the young person is living in Wandsworth.   We ask that we are contacted when such items are no longer in use so that these items can be collected and reused. 

What we don’t do

The Children’s Social Services Occupational Therapy team do not assess for the following:

• Needs relating to housing overcrowding issues. You will need to contact the Wandsworth Housing department for this specific need.
• Home safety aids or equipment that are readily available and non- specialist