Neonatal Occupational Therapy

This specialist Occupational Therapy service provides assessment and early intervention for children who are born before 32 weeks gestation or are born under 1.5kg.  

Assessment and screening of developmental milestones and early intervention are provided for   

• Postural needs 

• Motor development including hand skills  

• Sensory needs 

• Splinting of upper limbs 

• Feeding 

Infants are automatically referred to therapy services for assessment if they are born under 32 weeks gestation or under 1.5kg, by the neonatal unit. 

Infants can also be referred if: 

• They have experienced problems at birth such as brain injury or Neonatal stroke 

• Have other neurological problems or an abnormal MRI 

Referrals are accepted from: 

Directly from the ward when an inpatient on Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) 

Community referrals will be considered for acceptance to the service on receipt of a completed referral form.   

If you have any queries regarding a referral or require further information, please contact the service on 03000 848288 

For infants on the neonatal unit –  

The Occupational Therapist attends weekly ward rounds where they will be able to provide advice and support to professionals and parents and complete any relevant assessments needed, based on the individual needs of the child.  

For infants in the community -  

Once received, the referral will be triaged by Occupational Therapy team members and a decision made whether to accept the referral based on the information provided on the form. 

If accepted we will send out parent questionnaires. This will allow us to get a full understanding of the child’s abilities and needs from Occupational Therapy. These should be returned within 2 weeks of the date on the letter. 

Once we receive the questionnaires back, the Occupational Therapists will re-evaluate all the information provided. There are a number of pathways, therefore the Occupational Therapist will decide on the relevant pathway for your child and initial assessment will be completed by either; 

· Telephone Consultation 

· Virtual Consultation 

· Face to Face Consultation 

On occasions we feel that the child’s difficulties as presented on the referral are not appropriate for our service and their needs may be best met by another service. In these instances, we will write to the referrer and copy to parents to make the appropriate referral. 

Bethan Meacock

Specialist Neonatal Occupational Therapist

Leanne Dawkins 

Neonatal Occupational Therapy Technical Instructor