Your child's appointment with the complex neurodevelopmental disabilities service

Coronavirus (COVID-19) update

If you need advice or help during this difficult time, we have set up a system where you can book an appointment for one of our team to call you back.

Please note that this is only for existing patients who have attended any Newcomen neurodevelopmental clinic on or after January 2019 or have been referred and are on the waiting list.

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For more information about our service and what we do, please download our leaflet, the complex neurodevelopmental disabilities service (PDF 71Kb).

How do I get an appointment?

You and your child will usually be referred to our service by your GP or another health professional.

Changing or cancelling your appointment

If you need to change or cancel your child’s appointment for any reason, contact the clinic administrator on 020 7188 4624 or 020 7188 7188, extension 53288.

Please tell us as soon as possible so we can offer the appointment to another patient.

Our clinic administrator can also help to ensure that appointments suit your child’s specific needs, by offering flexible appointment times for example. Please call us if you would like to discuss any special requirements.

Before your appointment

Please send us any previous reports on your child’s health and development.

We may also send you a questionnaire to complete before your appointment, so that we can use the information you provide to support the assessments made at the clinic.

Please bring along your child’s red book (child personal health record) and a list of any medications your child is taking.

During your appointment

At the clinic, you and your child will usually see a doctor, a clinical psychologist and a speech and language therapist.

You may also see an occupational therapist or clinical specialist nurse, if necessary.

Appointments usually last three hours.

At the appointment, you and your child will spend some time with the team to plan the activities for your time at the clinic.

A doctor may meet with you to discuss your child’s condition, while a therapist assesses your child in an adjacent room.

A member of the team may call local services such as your child’s school to gather information about your child in other surroundings.

We will always ask your permission before we contact other services to discuss your child. This information will form part of the assessment.

Following these assessments, the clinic team will meet for about 15 minutes to discuss your appointment. Then they will meet with you and your child to discuss their findings and recommend a plan.

As we are a teaching hospital, students and visitors may be observing the team. We will always ask your permission for them to observe your appointment.

After your appointment

After your appointment, we sometimes need to arrange for a member of our team to visit you and your child at home or at school. This visit is to support any assessments made at the clinic.

Once we have completed our assessments, the team will write a report of their findings and recommendations. We will send this report to your child’s GP and any other professionals involved in your child’s care.

Although we don’t usually offer follow-up appointments, we may see your child again if:

• your child needs direct intervention for a limited period (group or individual work may be carried out at the hospital or on an outreach basis)
• working with local professionals will increase local skills
• we need to work with other professionals, for example at team around the child (TAC) and educational tribunals, where our work could prevent the need for legal action
• you and your family need further information about national resources.