Professionals

Referrals

Service eligibilty and referral criteria

The service works with children with a diagnosis of a learning disability who in educational terms have severe or moderate learning difficulties. And, in addition, present with any of the following:

• significant aggression/challenging behaviours putting the child or others at risk
• mental illness or significant mental health problem.

Individuals with a mild learning disability will access mainstream Core- CAMHS where reasonable adjustments can be made.

Consultation and advice can be offered regards children with complex care needs who do not meet the referral criteria for the Children’s LD Service where the team’s clinical expertise is appropriate to an individual case and other clinical priorities allow.

Referrals are made directly to the LD CAMHS Service using the LD CAMHS referral form providing evidence the child/young person requires a specialist learning disability service. The referrals will undergo screening to ensure the child/young person has been referred to the correct service and each referral will be prioritised according to urgency of assessment and treatment and allocated to team member accordingly. Parental consent must be sought before a referral can be processed.

To request a referral form, please contact us at: dhc.swifts.dorchester@nhs.net for a child in west Dorset or dhc.id-camhs.east@nhs.net for a child in east Dorset.

If you are unsure about whether a referral is appropriate, you may wish to attend our monthly multi-agency meeting to discuss. Contact us to attend a meeting.

Referral form

To request a referral form, please contact us at: dhc.swifts.dorchester@nhs.net for a child in west Dorset or dhc.id-camhs.east@nhs.net for a child in east Dorset.

If you are unsure about whether a referral is appropriate, you may wish to attend our monthly multi-agency meeting to discuss. Contact us to attend a meeting.

Work with us/get involved

Experts by Experience

Experts by Experience are people who have personal knowledge of our service, either through their own use of those services, or through caring for someone else. They help us better understand and meet the needs of our service users and their carers, and assist us to involve and learn from people who know most about our services through receiving them.

Activities that experts by experience can be involved in include:

• staff recruitment
• project work, co-producing the planning, design, delivery, development and review of services
• evaluating services and quality assurance
• staff training
• engaging with the public at events, on a stand or co-delivering a workshop
• attending meetings to give feedback
• research
• Experts by Experience are able to claim travel expenses and an honorarium (payment) for their time.

If you know a person with lived experience or a carer who would like to join as an Expert by Experience, please contact The Swifts Team (West Dorset ID CAMHS) on 01305 361414 or at dhc.swifts.dorchester@nhs.net