: Last Updated: 16 June 2020

Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy: Primary Schools

This speech and language therapy service supports children and young people with communication and eating and feeding difficulties including:

Mild, moderate or severe learning difficulties
Physical disabilities
Language delay
Specific language impairment
Specific difficulties in producing sounds
Hearing impairment
Cleft palate
Stammering
Autism/social interaction difficulties
Dyslexia
Voice disorders
Selective autism

The child or young person must be registered with a Harrow GP and/or should be a Harrow resident.

What does the service provide?

The speech and language therapists (SLT) aim to provide a high-quality, needs-led service to children and young people with communication and eating and feeding difficulties. To achieve this, we work in partnership with the children, their parents or carers, teachers, teaching assistants, and other health, education and social care professionals and voluntary bodies.

Each school in Harrow has a designated SLT who co-ordinates the service to that school. Intervention is primarily carried out in partnership with parents, school staff and other professionals. This is done by:

Providing assessment and review to establish how the pupil’s needs impact on their ability to access the school day.
Joint target setting and strategy development with school staff for inclusion into the child or young person's individual educational plan.
Direct therapy for children with a specific clinical need as required. This always involves collaboration with school staff to ensure carryover into the classroom.
Attendance at Annual Reviews and Planning Meetings as necessary.
Training/INSET is offered to all schools

Emphasis is placed on supporting the school so that strategies can be implemented throughout the school day.

How do I access the service?

All professionals and parents can make a referral. Parental consent is essential to all referrals.

For all referrals, schools are asked to complete a referral checklist in order to provide information about their concerns, support that has been put in place by school and the child’s response to this. Forms are available in all schools, via the service website or from the speech and language therapy service.

Once referrals are processed by the Principal Speech and Language Therapist for Schools we aim to see each child within 8 weeks. Each child will receive an assessment in school, although some assessments are also offered during school holidays. Following assessment, a decision will be made regarding future management and a written report will be provided.

Referrals for children with mild speech difficulties, a stammer or voice problem may be seen at a community clinic or at Northwick Park Hospital.

This service is available from Monday to Friday, 8.30 to 5.30pm.

Temporary COVID-19 Arrangements

Due to the current COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic we have made some temporary changes to the way that we deliver therapy services to children, young people (CYP) and families, for example in minimising face-to-face contact. We continue to provide support but in a different way through telephone advice, video conference and written advice where needed. We will be offering face to face contacts to a small number of high risk CYP. We continue to accept new referrals and will contact you to make an appointment for a teleconference within 8 weeks. We continue to work with colleagues in early year’s settings and schools to ensure they have up to date speech and language therapy advice to support your child.

We do not know yet when normal services will resume. These changes have been made in order to keep you and our staff safe and follow the nationally published guidance for community services. We understand that this is a very unsettling time but we are here to support you, if you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the department.

Contact Us
Paediatric Therapy Department
Chaucer Unit Level 3, Northwick Park Hospital, Watford Road, Harrow HA1 3UJ
Telephone: 0208 869 3010
The service is provided by London North West Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWHT).

For further information about the service visit

: Last Updated: 17 October 2019

Harrow’s Local Offer: Your Guide to Services

The Harrow Local Offer sets out the services and support available in our borough for children and young adults under the age of 25 with special educational needs and those who are disabled. It also provides information about a young person's transition into adulthood.

The purpose of the local offer is to enable parents and young people to see more clearly what services are available in their area and how to access them. Knowing what is available and how it is accessed gives more choice and control to families and young people.

The Local Offer provides:

One place to find information about the support available across education, health and social care
Details about how to access services
Clear and easy to understand information

The Local Offer and you

The Local Offer has been developed in partnership with parents, carers, children and young people. We are continuing to develop the Local Offer to make our services easier to find and understand.

Pass it on

We are always trying to get the word out about Harrow's Local Offer. Please tell your friends and family about this website. You could also print out a flyer or a poster to pin up - download it here.
If you would like to know more about how the Local Offer was created - download our One Year On review.

: Last Updated: 19 July 2017

You said, We did

Your views are important in helping us to provide the best Local Offer for you and your family.

Whether you are a child, young person, parent or carer, we’d love to hear from you about the services and support that you think should be included.

Submit feedback

: Last Updated: 11 June 2019

Who is Harrow Parent Forum for?

Harrow Council and the local parent forum, Harrow Parent Forum (HPF) have been working together to improve services for children and young people (up to the age of 25), with Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities and their families.

What does the service provide?

We offer advice and support to families with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
We run events and consultations with speakers from a variety of services across Harrow and outside the borough
We seek contributons from families to shape services

For further information and to find out how you can get involved, visit www.harrowparentforum.org

How do I access the service?

To access the service please contact us using the details below:

Address:

Harrow Parent Forum
Cedars Hall
Artillery Place
Chicheley Road
Harrow Weald
HA3 6QJ

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone/Text: 07928 577689 (please leave us a message)

: Last Updated: 16 March 2022

Who is Community Specialist Palliative Care Service for?

Community Specialist Palliative care (care that relieves pain, symptoms and stress caused by serious illnesses) is for adults aged 18 or over who are registered with a Harrow GP.

The service supports adults with advanced progressive illness, life expectancy of one year or less and in addition:

Severe and/or complex symptoms that are difficult to control
Complex psychosocial issues for the patient or family/carer
Complex end of life issues and advanced care planning

What does the service provide?

The purpose of the team is to empower people with advanced and progressive illnesses (and people who support them). With the provision of skilled palliative care the team works to maximise the quality of life, and death for the individual. The service includes:

Provision of specialist clinical advice on palliative care issues to patients, their families/carers and those who care for them.
Specialist advice and support to help patients and their families/carers cope with the emotional impact of living with advanced progressive illnesses and end of life. This includes psychological support.
Provision of a case management service for patients and their families/carers with complex needs liaising closely with other services involved in their care.
Provision of high quality information to enable informed choice about treatment options and end of life care, including advanced care planning decision making.
Empowering health and social care professionals to provide high standards of care to palliative patients in accordance with national guidance, by joint working and provision of education and training.

The team practises four levels of intervention

Level 1: Advice, information and support may be accessed directly from a member of the team by a professional who is making the referral. No contact with the patient will be made.
Level 2: A single consultation visit or outpatient appointment for advice.
Level 3: Short term interventions by a team member to address specific problems. The intention is to discharge from the service with open access to re-referral if required.
Level 4: Longer term involvement for individuals who have complex on-going problems.

How do I access the service?

Referrals are accepted from all healthcare and social care professionals, patients and relatives. If calls are received direct from patients/relatives, they are in the first instance requested to contact the patient’s GP to request a written referral to be provided.

Referrals are accepted Monday to Friday in writing on a completed London Cancer Alliance (LCA) Specialist Palliative Care referral form, with relevant clinical information attached.

Patients should consent to the referral prior to the referral being sent.
Referrals are prioritised on a daily basis according to need by a clinical nurse specialist.

For non-urgent referrals, patients will be contacted within the following specified time frames with appointment:

Patient with uncontrolled symptom, severe anxiety, and/or emotional distress will be contacted within three working days of receipt of complete referral.
Patient with controlled symptoms that require advanced care planning, carer support, and/or general supportive care will be contacted within five working days of receipt of complete referral.

For urgent referrals patients should have:

Severe complex uncontrolled symptoms
Prognosis of days or less
Discharged home from hospital to die

These patients will be contacted by telephone on the day of referral if received before 1pm or next working day if after. They will be seen within two working days of receipt of a complete referral.

The service is available from Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 4.30pm.
For out-of-hours telephone advice please contact Michael Sobell House, on 01923 844281
The service is provided by London North West Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWHT).

For further information about the service visit LNWH Palliative care service