Skip to main content

NHS Camden Children's Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy promotes an individual’s health and well-being, helping them to move optimally. Physiotherapy can be helpful for people of all ages with a wide a variety of health condition but paediatric physiotherapists use specialist knowledge of child development and childhood conditions to treat babies, children and young people. They assess and treat movement difficulties, developmental concerns or pain, which may impact on daily activities and function. Whether these movement difficulties are from birth, develop during childhood, are associated with a long-term condition or result from an injury the paediatric physiotherapist’s aim is to help children acquire or regain functional movement skills. The focus is on empowering children and young people to achieve their optimal physical function to enable participation in everyday activities at home, at school and in their community.

The Paediatric Physiotherapy service provides assessment, advice and treatment to children from birth to school leaving age (0-18 years). It provides child and family-centered advice and treatment in community and hospital settings, working closely with the multi-disciplinary team including doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, play specialists, teachers, teaching assistants and colleagues in social care.

Contact details

Contact Name
Eleftheria Kosmidou
Contact Position
Head of Children’s Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy
Telephone
020 7830 2535
E-mail
eleftheria.kosmidou@nhs.net

Address

Activity location
The Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London, NW3 2QG MOSAIC, Integrated Service for Disabled Children, Kentish Town Health Centre, 2 Bartholomew Road, London, NW5 2BX Swiss Cottage School, 80 Avenue Road, London, NW8 6HX
Address
Royal Free Hospital
Pond Street
London
Postcode
NW3 2QG

Further details

Last checked date
08/06/2020
Record ID
40022

Local Offer

About Local Offer
Local Offer Age Bands
Preparing for Adult Life 14-25
Children under 5
School Age Children & Young People 5-18
SEN Provision Type
Targeted
Specialist
Where is the service located and what areas does it cover?

We have 3 bases within Camden where our physiotherapists deliver services. We also provide home-based treatment, school and nursery-based services. Our bases are at Royal Free Hospital, at MOSAIC in Kentish Town Health Centre and Swiss Cottage School. Our service covers the borough of Camden.

Who does your service provide for?

Our service is for babies, children and young people (0-18 years old) living in Camden or who have a Camden GP or attending school in Camden.

Babies, Children and young people can be referred due to a wide range of needs:

  • Musculoskeletal problems for example sports injuries, strains, sprains and recovery if movement is lost after a fracture
  • Physical disabilities related to neurological and neuromuscular conditions e.g. Cerebral Palsy and muscular dystrophy
  • Difficulties associated with balance and coordination
  • Delay in acquiring motor skills
  • Orthopaedic and rheumatological conditions e.g. childhood arthritis, Structural Talipes Equinovarus
  • Rehabilitation after prolonged illness
  • Congenital disorders e.g. talipes, torticollis, plagiocephaly, spina bifida and Erbs palsy
  • Medical conditions affecting movement
  • Down Syndrome
  • Respiratory conditions
How can a child or young person start using the service?

Babies, children and young people can be referred to the service through the online SPOR (Single point of referral) system SPOR by other professional who believe they may benefit from physiotherapy.

How are decisions made about eligibility for your service?

The senior Physiotherapist views all referrals that are received through SPOR. If we think the child may benefit from physiotherapy, we inform the parents and offer an assessment. If we are not able to help we write to the parent and to the referrer to explain. There is further information about our service on the Royal Free Hospital website can be found here.

How do you communicate with service users and how are they involved in decision making/planning?

There is information about the service on the Royal Free website. We have leaflets concerning some specific conditions which we treat. We also have information leaflets concerning commonly occurring conditions. The hospital Out Patients Department has access to telephone Language Line which can help with translation into community languages and we can book BLS signers or individual interpreters as needed. Parents are encouraged to attend treatment sessions as much as possible to keep up to date with their child’s progress and to become skilled at following treatment plans at home. There is regular goal planning for each child and we review targets regularly so that parents can keep up to date with progress. We discuss the targets for intervention thoroughly with parents and with children/young people where appropriate so that families are fully involved in the target setting. We use parent and user satisfaction surveys at the end of blocks of intervention to collect feedback about our service and improvements or changes users would like to recommend.

Is your service fully accessible?

All of the locations where we work are fully accessible for children and young people with special needs and disability.

What training have the staff supporting children and young people with SEND had/or will be they be getting?

All of the physiotherapy team are fully qualified and have good awareness and understanding of special educational needs and disability.

Who should a service user contact if they want to raise a concern or complain about something?

If a service user wishes to raise a concern or complain about something they should contact the Head of Service, Betty Hutchon. Contact details are: Betty Hutchon, Head of Children’s Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, Lower Ground Floor, The Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG. Telephone: 0207 830 2535. Email bettyhutchon@nhs.net

Who can a parent carer/young person contact for further information?

More information can be found on Royal Free Hospital website here. Alternatively, please contact Betty Hutchon, Head of Children’s Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy by telephone: 0207 830 2535 or email: bettyhutchon@nhs.net. You can request further information regarding referrals by contacting the Single Point of Referral (SPOR) administrator on 020 3317 2250.

The Local Offer is a free and impartial service provided by Camden Local Authority. Any service or provider mentioned in this Local Offer, does not represent a recommendation or endorsement of the service or quality of the service provided. You are responsible for undertaking your own checks to determine suitability of the service and provider.

Back to top