OT Assessment referral

[ReindeerBollocks]

School have referred DS for an OT assessment - this was in february. We have heard nothing yet regarding an appointment. School queried a number of issues, and I was able to get the ball rolling on one dx (hypermobility). But we are still waiting for the OT assessment to identify further educational issues. Plus DS has begun vocal ticking and I'm not sure if this is linked.

How long roughly do these appointments take to come through? There are some issues and I want to push forward to get him the right kind of help for these but feel restricted by lack of assessment.

Don't want to go to GP as not wholly confident about them.

I normally expect to get a letter within about 4-6 weeks after a referral (however long the wait for an appointment is!), so I'd start chasing them. You should be able to find a phone number for them under something like community services childrens OT, a lot of areas let you self refer now so it's worth giving them a ring.

Our OT appoinment took at least 9 months. I did chase them up personally and was told there was a waiting list for appointments. But if i didnt push and chase them up, im sure it would have took longer.

I didn't realise it would take so long! I'm shocked at a nine month wait.

I'll search our local area and see if I can find the person whom we would have been referred to, if I get no joy I'll speak to his teacher on Monday, as she made the initial referral in the first place.

Thanks

we were referred end of last year and haven't even got an appointment for an assessment yet. DD is still on waiting list. I keep harrassing calling them in case somebody cancels. OT waiting lists seem to be even longer than those for Salt :-(

it was 18 months for an initial OT appointment at one stage here, thankfully they seem to have reduced it quite a bit now. Community services always appear to be the first that suffer when there are cutbacks.

Well just spoken to the SEN within our LA and it appears that I will have to enquiry with the school as it doesn't go through them. It's crazy that they have to wait so long, when it is affecting his education now.

I take it a private assessment would be useless, as the school will require their assessors report? his teacher is great, and has already started some adaptions but a full assessment would be best.

*enquire

We were referred in January.
We got a cancellation appointment in early April.
We were told we would get a report in 6 weeks, and then would have to wait 4-6 months for treatment.

If its any longer I think we will go back to the private OT we used before. Its ridiculous.

The referral should have been made to your local NHS OT.

In my experience private OT assessments are much more comprehensive and detailed and unbiased. NHS OT often have very large case loads and will try to get away with bare minimal.

Although unless you can afford it, even if you get private assessment it will be local OT service who will have to deliver the care to meet the needs, although it would be pointless for them to reassess again, if you already had private assessment, they might not follow the recommendations of private OT or even deem it necessary to follow any recommendations at all.

Ds has had a private OT assessment and all his needs have been identified, i self referred to local OT, as recommendations from private was that ds needed x, y z delivered by local NHS OT. They declined on the grounds they are short staffed and are only meeting the needs of the most severe cases ie children who cannot walk, eat etc.

There's a long (and unspecified) wait for NHS OT here too. DS1 was referred by the community paeds months ago, but all we've revived is a letter telling us that they've received the referral. I suspect they don't want to admit how long the waiting list actually is.

They declined on the grounds they are short staffed and are only meeting the needs of the most severe cases ie children who cannot walk, eat etc.

Thats exactly what we were told.

Voidka, if a need has been identified, the PCT is supposed to met it. This is easier said than done though.

Last time i forced it upon the local OT, she was supposed to go into school and 'advise' school on how to meet these needs, she attended twice in a year, gave school no advise at all. Then at the end of the year, tried to prepare a report saying his difficulties were well managed by school and he was no longer experiencing these difficulties and discharged ds.

I then had to make a complaint about OT, have the report shredded, get a private OT assessment to counteract her 'findings', but now i am back to square one again.

Ds still has the same difficulties because NHS OT didnt do her job first time round, but ds will be referred back to the NHS OT! Its a vicious circle.

Voidka, i was lucky enough to meet a paed who stood up to other professionals (he went into private practice shortly after, so maybe he was braver than most!) he told me that if a need has been identified it must be met and that the correct procedure should be that if one PCT could not provide the service for whatever reason, is that the PCT in which you live, should supply the funds to another PCT who could supply the service.

I didnt bother pursuing this further because of the reasons above, but im not sure if that is of any use to you, but might be worth bearing in mind. Someone might be lucky enough to find an OT who is worth her weight in gold.

Our private OT report was 16 pages with 2 dx. The NHS OT report 3 months earlier was 1.5 pages and said no SN. Not many of the recommendations in the report have been carried out by school or NHS OT.

Ben our private OT was 40 pages long and she identified so many difficulties from formal assessments. She also observed ds in school for 3 hours and reported on how these difficulties affected him in school. Her recommendations were great. She was brilliant.

NHS OT report was 'mum says' and 'school says', she made no assessments whatsoever and no recommendations either.

That's right. "mum says" - which to me means "mum is deluded and just wants extra support that her child doesn't need". That might be me and my experience of NHS OT and LA EP. At least our Paed when she says "mum says" means "mum knows".....

Nail on the head Ben, in our case OT used 'mum says' and 'school says' without actually doing any assessments herself to show exactly what you said mum is deluded and school are right, he has no difficulties, lets discharge him!

Reading others experiences makes me want to push for a private assessment. Our council haven't cut services yet, so I may be in with a chance of implementing it, but it's worth having the assessment sooner rather than later to put my mind at rest.

Reindeer a private assessment you could literally get next week, as you have to pay for it yourself and you instruct the OT. They are quite expense, ours cost about £800.

I would pay for one if you can stretch to it. Mine was £430 in SE England.

Expense, i meant expensive!

I think we can cover it, but will check how much it costs before hand.

Will speak to the school and if they are vague and have no idea when it will be I will go ahead and get the private assessment. There are several areas of concern which have started since Christmas and I want to know if they are long term or temporary. We are also in the process of three other medical dx's so I just want answers ASAP!

Ask school for the OT's phone number and chase them yourself, it will be quicker, they shouldnt have a problem giving it to you.

Im sure someone from here can recommend a good OT in your area, if not.

Good luck.