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Community Therapy

Checked: 23-04-2022 by Vicky Ryan Next Review: 23-01-2024

Service overview

Community Therapists operate within Integrated Network Teams (INT) and provide home based therapy support and rehabilitation, to patients over the age of 18, within their place of residence, who are registered with a Bristol, North Somerset or South Gloucestershire GP.

The INT Therapists consist of Registered Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists, as well as Rehabilitation Support Workers.

The Community Therapists are mainly accessed by individuals who are unable to attend outpatient appointments and require seeing in their own homes to assess and manage conditions that affect function and independence within their home such as Falls, Neurological conditions, Trauma and Orthopaedics, discharge from hospital for rehabilitation if not referred through HomeFirst pathway on discharge from hospital.

Please refer to attached triage criteria to aid in referral decisions and also to consider alternative referrals to ensure the patient needs are met in the most appropriate way.

Please see the relevant Remedy page for referrals to Specialist Community Neurology Teams or Speech & Language therapy

In order for staff to manage the referral in a timely and effective manner, please ensure the referral form is clear about the reason for the referral and what the expectations from therapy input will be, both from the patient and referrer perspective.

Urgent referrals

If patients require therapy at home, in order to prevent admission to hospital, or there is a significant risk of harm, or carer breakdown due to their health condition, then please refer on the urgent care pathway via Sirona SPA on 0300 1256789 and choose the relevant area.

Bristol referrals

For all non-urgent therapy referrals please use the INT Community Therapy referral form and email to Sirch.bristolspa@nhs.net or submit via EMIS Managed Referrals.

North Somerset referrals

For all non-urgent therapy referrals please use the INT Community Therapy referral form and email to: Sirch.northsomersetspa@nhs.net

Referrals specifically for Occupational Therapy can also be called through to 01934 888801, where our local authority Occupational Therapy colleagues can triage the referral and manage appropriately.

South Gloucestershire referrals

For all non-urgent therapy referrals please use the INT Community Therapy referral form and email to: sirch.southglosspa@nhs.net

Social Care Occupational Therapists work in the community and may come into hospitals. They will help to look at any long term needs that occur due to disability. They will also help to keep or increase independence to prevent or reduce the need for care. If you feel the referral is more suitable for this input then please completed the Occupational Therapy Referral Form and send to: CSOdesk@southglos.gov.uk

Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

Information provided through Remedy is continually updated so please be aware any printed copies may quickly become out of date.