Children’s community physiotherapy services and specialist centres

The child development team (CDT) is a multidisciplinary integrated service for babies and children under the age of five who are referred with complex needs.

The CDT is made up of paediatricians, children's occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, dieticians, a specialist health visitor, clinical psychologists, child psychotherapists, therapy assistants, and keyworkers.

Babies and children who are under the care of the CDT are often involved with several of the healthcare professionals.

The CDT physiotherapists work closely with the baby/child, their family, the multidisciplinary team and caregivers, including those in nursery, to facilitate their individual physiotherapy programmes. This may include:

• providing home and nursery physiotherapy programmes and input
• providing mobility aids in home and nursery settings
• multidisciplinary reviews of progress
• coaching modelling sessions

Find out more on the Camden MOSAIC website.

Our children’s physiotherapists work in partnership with the child or young person, their family/carers, their teachers and other relevant school professionals, when required. The aim is to:

• provide assessment and intervention to promote safe mobility/positioning in the school environment
• advise about involvement in activities outside the classroom and promoting maximal involvement in physical education (PE) classes
• enable participation in leisure and play activities, ie taking part in sports and games, using the playground equipment to develop a range of motor skills
• support with provision of equipment related to the child's mobility, when necessary
• provide targeted activities and physiotherapy exercise programmes to promote physical function

Treatment may be provided as one-to-one physiotherapy sessions working closely with parents/carers, or in groups.

Our children’s physiotherapy service runs term-time and summer holiday groups. 

Physiotherapists will decide whether the child or young person is most suitable to be treated individually or in a group, depending on their assessment findings.

Groups run in blocks of treatment and children need to attend all sessions to benefit from the treatment and to meet their physiotherapy goals.

Parents/carers are expected to be involved in the group activities so that physiotherapy techniques can be practised and implemented at home.

Groups that may be offered by the service include:

• treadmill 
• trampoline/rebound therapy 
• hydrotherapy 
• pilates/core stability

Find out more about physiotherapy in schools.

Swiss Cottage School in the London borough of Camden provides education for learners with complex needs.

Within Swiss Cottage School, our children’s physiotherapy team works closely with education, other therapists and medical staff for the learners.

Children who are referred to the service are assessed and may be offered a range of physiotherapy options including:

• individual physiotherapy programmes
• hydrotherapy
• group physiotherapy
• observation and advice on PE
• referral for orthotics
• assessment for equipment
• access to the wheelchair clinic 
• providing individualised manual handling plans to promote safe handling and movement around the school for learners with significant mobility difficulties

Physiotherapists are also involved in the learner’s multidisciplinary annual reviews.

Our children’s physiotherapy service provides a hospital-based service to children with musculoskeletal needs who live in Camden or who have a Camden GP.  

The services runs year-round at the Royal Free Hospital.

Children receive individual assessment and management plans if appropriate. Physiotherapists will decide whether the child/young person’s needs are best treated in an individual setting or in a group setting. 

Children are referred to the service by their GP, paediatrician or health visitor. 

The aim of musculoskeletal physiotherapy is to:

• provide a comprehensive assessment and management plan
• provide advice and education around common childhood-related conditions 
• provide the child/young person and their family the tools with which to manage their condition in the longer term
• enable return to sports and participation in PE at school and outside of school activities

The hospital-based physiotherapists manage the children’s ward, also overseeing appropriate orthopaedic situations, respiratory conditions, acute neurological and miscellaneous concerns. They work closely with the paediatricians and nursing teams.