Physical Difficulties & Medical Service
The Physical Difficulties and Medical (PD&M) Service consists of four key provisions:
- A Helpline Service– the first point of contact for education settings with enquiries about all issues relating to the inclusion of children with physical difficulties or long-term medical needs. Contact pdandmedicalservice@eastsilc.org.
- School Access and Curriculum Outreach– Expert assessment advice and guidance in relation to teaching and learning for children and young people aged 2-25 with complex physical and medical difficulties:
- Assessing needs and requirements;
- Advice and guidance in relation to training, equipment, resources and curriculum delivery to ensure full access to the appropriate educational setting for children and young people;
- Preparation of resources for use in the school;
- Co-ordination of professionals meeting to identify access needs of individual pupil. This could include the physiotherapy team, local authority access officer, moving and handling team, estate management team and staff from the educational setting.
- Advice on individual risk assessments available, e.g. fire evacuation;
- Bespoke advice on personalising the curriculum to ensure the physical needs of the pupil are met e.g. communication of learning whilst in a standing frame, appropriate positioning of both pupil and resources in class setting;
- Awareness training for both staff and students e.g. staff meetings, assemblies.
- ICT Assessment Service to Schools.Please see ICT Assessment Service, email ICTAssessmentService@eastsilc.org or call 0113 293 0236 Ext 1234. The service provides:
- ICT assessments, including the detailed specification of equipment recommended and supplier information.
- Develop monitoring systems to review the use of equipment recommended and identify further training needs.
- Specialist training in the use of the approved equipment and software to both school staff and pupils (where necessary, parents/ carers may be included).
- Safe Moving And Handling Training Service To Schools / Mobility And Equipment Advice, email movingandhandling@eastsilc.org or phone 0113 2930236 Ext 1238. The service provides:
- Development of risk assessment in relation to the safe movement of pupils including ‘evacuation’ advice;
- Recall service for refresher training;
- Provision of policies on safe movement of children with disabilities;
- Bespoke guidance and training on meeting the intimate care needs of pupils;
- Advice on appropriateness of equipment requested;
- Advice to schools in relation to facilities required to support young people with PD and medical difficulties (e.g. laptop, eye gaze technology, etc).
- Support health colleagues audit location of resources.
- Signpost educational settings to appropriate professional support e.g. occupational therapists, dieticians, nursing team, continence advisory service.
Who We Are
Natalie Carroll and Laura Furness
We work for the East SILC and PD & Medical Services. The moving and handling team Natalie and Laura both have over 10 years’ experience working in health care and with special needs children. We are both qualified key trainers of moving and handling. We also train in intimate care needs.
We deliver this training to a range of organisations, specialists’ settings and mainstream settings across West Yorkshire. The training is delivered in your setting to make it more accessible to school staff.
Matthew Wilton
I’ve worked with the East SILC since 2007 in IT. This includes supporting with setup and development of new and specialist technologies. I’ve had first hand experience in supporting our previous ICT access assessors with assistive technology throughout this time.
We work with mainstream schools across Leeds to help find and help implement suitable assistive technology solutions where needed. We also loan out equipment so it can be used in depth during the school day before the school has to purchase the solution required.
Why Choose US
The PD & Medical Service is run by and based at the East SILC. The Moving and Handling Team have over 10 years’ experience working at the East SILC and in care before. Also, the team are fully qualified by Centaur. The ICT Access assessor has worked at the East SILC for over 15 years helping students with various SEND access specialist IT technologies.
As a service we work alongside other services like physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and a range of medical professionals.
Cost for Services
- IT assessment and report writing – £150pp
- Full Moving and Handling, £45pp
- Full Moving and Handling with Intimate Care Advice, £50pp
- Moving and Handling Theory Only, £30pp.
- Moving and Handling Theory with Intimate Care Advice, £45pp
- Intimate Care Training, £25pp
Please note, these services are not available to purchase through Leeds for Learning. Please contact East SILC directly to order.