Our services

The Adult Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) service is provided in east and north Hertfordshire. For residents in west Hertfordshire, a service is provided by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

All the speech and language therapists are registered with the national regulatory body, the Health and Care Professions Council, which maintains an online register of Speech and Language Therapists meeting the required standards.

The service works as a team to provide integrated, seamless care to adult patients with speech, language, communication, voice or swallowing difficulties. The care is patient-centred with individualised packages based on clinical evidence, good practice and clinical experience. The service works in partnership with patients and their families and with other professions, multidisciplinary teams and partner agencies to reduce the impact of these often life threatening and isolating difficulties on people’s lives.

The service has a culture of service review and development to meet identified needs.

The service is delivered from acute hospitals, community hospitals, rehabilitation units, intermediate care locations, residential and nursing homes and patients’ own homes. The patients are seen in the most appropriate setting to their needs.

The SLT service operates open access for referral for all disorders with the exception of:

• Dysphagia (swallowing) referrals should be made by a Doctor
• Dysphonia (voice) referrals require ENT examination prior to SLT assessment in line with national recommendations

Contact the service

Tel: 0300 1237571 

• Option *2 press if patient/relative
• Option 1* press if booking or to cancel routine app
• Option 8* press for speech and language therapy

 

Address: Haymeads Ln,  Bishop's Stortford CM23 5JH, Stortford, CM23 5JH

Autism assessments

HCT are currently offering a hybrid service of virtual and face-to-face appointments depending on the needs of your child. The majority of our ASD assessments are face-to-face with some being undertaken as virtual video based assessments with the Multidisciplinary team. This means you and your child or young person can be seen at home via video link. A clinician will contact you in advance of an appointment to discuss the process and how the assessment will be carried out on the day. This way of working is in line with national and international expert guidance, and ensures our families and staff are kept safe. In addition, this model of working is helping the team ensure that children, young people and their families can receive support based on their individual needs. Virtual assessments have already helped us to reduce the time it is currently taking to review and assess each individual.

When your child or young person is nearing the top of the waiting list, we would be grateful if you and/or the school setting where appropriate could complete and return all the forms which we will send. The forms will typically be sent by email.

If your child’s needs have changed and you no longer require an assessment appointment, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer the appointment to another family. You can contact the ASD Administration team by emailing hct.autism@nhs.net. If your child is under the care of the East and North Hertfordshire Paediatricians, based at Lister Hospital, QEII Hospital, Danestrete Health Centre and Hertford County Hospital, please email autism.enh-tr@nhs.net.

Whilst you are waiting for an assessment appointment, we suggest you review the information available from the Hertfordshire County Council Local Offer. The Local Offer includes a range of materials, bookable courses and workshops which can provide invaluable guidance on supporting your child or young person, both before and after their assessment. The Local Offer website is www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/localoffer.

There are an increased number of workshops for parents, carers and families awaiting ASD assessment. You can find the dates and details for the workshops by accessing the Local Offer website link above.

As part of the Local Offer, we are please to announce the creation of the Neurodiversity Support Hub.

The Neurodiversity Support Hub is an advice service offering support, signposting and guidance about a whole range of things relating to ADHD and Autism. The phones are answered by a team of parents and carers of neurodivergent children and young people and your child doesn't need a diagnosis for you to use this service.

Website: https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/microsites/local-offer/resources-for-parents-and-professionals/the-neurodiversity-hub.aspx

You can call them on 01727 833963 (Open Monday to Friday 9am - 1pm, closed bank holidays) or email: supporthub@add-vance.org

Making a referral for ASD assessment

Please see "Making a Referral" section below. Updated referral forms and guidance are now live.

Click here for more information about ASD.

Address: Lister Hospital,  Coreys Mill Lane,  Stevenage,  Hertfordshire SG1 4AB, Stevenage, SG1 4AB

The adult bladder and bowel care service has a team of specialist nurses who have advanced knowledge in the assessment and treatment of bladder and bowel problems and provide clinics in East and North Hertfordshire. We provide a telephone advice line and also offer visits to housebound patients. For residents in west Hertfordshire, a similar service is provided by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

This service offers professional, confidential advice and treatment options for bladder and bowel problems, with the aim of improving or curing your symptoms. 

Whether you’re visiting us for diagnosis or treatment, our team of specialists are here to support you.

Incontinence, whenever it occurs, is a distressing and embarrassing condition, which greatly undermines quality of life, impinging on the independence and dignity of the individual.

We can offer conservative treatments along with advice and support for individuals experiencing bladder or bowel problems.

Some of the treatments that we provide are:

• Bladder training
• Pelvic Floor Exercises
• Lifestyle changes (weight, fluid intake, diet)
• Medication
• Biofeedback
• Flowmetry
• Intermittent Self catheterisation
• Specialist Appliances (sheaths, male/female urinals)

We recognise that patients with bladder and bowel care requirements need very special attention to make sure they receive the correct care and advice to suit their lifestyle. Our team of experts is dedicated to making you feel comfortable and keeping you informed throughout.

Specialist team

The team comprises of 10 staff:

• 5 registered nurses
• 3 clinical support staff
• 2 administrators

Address: Park Drive Health Centre Park Drive Baldock SG7 6EN, Baldock, SG7 6EN

East and North Hertfordshire

The cardiac rehabilitation programme in East and North Hertfordshire is run by a cardiac rehabilitation nurse specialist in the community. The exercise classes for patients are run by the Lister Hospital (East and North Herts Trust Cardiology). The cardiac specialist nurse can deliver a home programme and give you advice and practical support after coming out of hospital. You can make an appointment to be seen at home or in clinic. 

The East and North programme is available from Lister Hospital for:

• Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of myocardial infarction (heart attack)
• Patients following percutaneous coronary intervention (stents)
• Patients following coronary artery bypass surgery

(Please note heart valve replacement or repair does not always meet the criteria for East and North Hertfordshire exercise classes - home visits and the home exercise programme is the pathway in this area.)

West Hertfordshire

The service in west Hertfordshire is now provided by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

Address: Robertson House Six Hills Way Stevenage Herts SG1 2FQ, Stevenage, SG1 2FQ

From 27 June 2022, Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust is providing a care coordination centre for frail residents in Stevenage.

This new service has been developed by Hertfordshire County Council and Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust to provide an integrated triage function and care coordination across multiple organisations.

The care co-ordination centre will ensure a person receives the right intervention at the right time, by the right professional.

Patients will be triaged by the East and North Hertfordshire integrated care coordination centre and multi-organisational multidisciplinary team who will agree the most appropriate organisation to undertake an initial visit with the patient.

The visiting organisation will feedback to the multidisciplinary team and any additional referrals or input from other organisations will occur.

Updates on interventions or frailty status are monitored and tracked by the East and North Hertfordshire integrated care coordination centre and the referring service will be kept informed of the action(s) taken. The care coordination centre will act as a central point of information and co-ordination and will ensure system-wide visibility of people with frailty and their past/current support.

Any patient who is registered with a GP practice in Stevenage and who has been identified as frail or who is recovering from or at risk of falls can be referred. If referrers are not sure which pathway in the community a patient requires, or if a patient requires multiple referrals to multiple services, then a single referral can be sent into the Care Coordination Centre, who will triage and ensure the patient is placed on the correct pathway.

The pilot will run in Stevenage for 3 months and there will be continuous evaluation for the duration of the pilot period and a final evaluation will be completed to include any lessons learned, and changes that are required prior to the wider roll out across the East and North Herts system.

Address: Kingsway Health centre 15 Kings Way,  Stevenage SG1 2UA, Stevenage, SG1 2UA

Early intervention children and young people mental health service

Children and young people’s mental health service working with 0–19-year-olds who are registered with a GP in Hertfordshire.

Types of intervention

•       Brief, goal-focused interventions to those who have mild to moderate mental health difficulties which are causing distress and impacting on day-to-day life.

•       Group or One-to-one interventions depending on the nature of young people’s difficulties.

•       Parent/child or infant relationship focused work using strengths and evidence-based approaches to promote emotional health and wellbeing for infants and young children.

Some of our therapeutic approaches:

•       Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

•       Creative Therapies

•       Video Interaction Guidance (VIG)

•       Video Intervention to Promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD)

•       Circle of Security Parenting (CoS-P)

 

Contact the service

The service operates on Mondays to Fridays between 9am and 5pm.

We will always aim to be professional, fair and respectful. In return, NHS staff have the right to have safe working conditions free from harassment, bullying and violence, to be treated fairly, equally and free from discrimination.

Please note that we are not an emergency service, please contact NHS 111 or emergency services in these circumstances.

Please call us on 01438 730 570 or email hct.step2@nhs.net.

Main Clinic:

Starfish House
3 North Road
Stevenage
SG1 4AT

Address: Starfish House 3 North Road Stevenage SG1 4AT, Stevenage, SG1 4AT

The children and young people’s (CYP) continence service was established in February 2021 to promote health bladder and bowels for children and young people in West Hertfordshire, and East and North Hertfordshire since January 2024. We also manage the allocation of continence products for our patients who require them.

We are based at the Peace Children’s Centre in Watford and the team consists of Clinical Nurse Specialists in CYP Continence, CYP Continence Nurses and CYP Continence Support Workers. They are also assisted by the specialist nursing administration team. The service operates Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm (except Bank Holidays).

We are a nurse led team and provide clinical assessment, treatment and support for children and young people who have bladder and/or bowel dysfunction, where first line intervention (Tier 1 from health visitors and/or school nurses, GPs) has not resolved the referring problem.

Continence issues affects large numbers of children and young people and can prevent them from achieving their full potential. It can lead onto psychological issues and these need to be spoken about and addressed. Children with additional needs are also greatly affected by continence issues, either directly or indirectly of their underlining diagnosis. With our support, we will look at diet/fluids/behaviour and biological links to the continence issue. If medications are required, we will liaise with the GP and monitor the effects of the medications.

We operate a Tier 2 continence service, in line with guidance from the children’s continence commissioning guide published by the paediatric continence forum (Sept 2019) and provide support to children aged four to 18-years-old. If they attend one of our special schools, we will continue to support them until they are 19-years-old.

Location of service

Hertfordshire

Peace Children’s Centre
Thursdays 9am to 1pm and 12pm to 5pm, alternate weeks.

St Albans Health and Wellness Centre
Wednesdays 9am to 1pm and 12pm to 5pm, alternate weeks.

New QEII Hospital
Mondays and Fridays 9am to 1pm and 12pm to 5pm, alternate weeks.

Address: Peace Children’s Centre Watford Herts WD17 3EW, Watford, WD17 3EW

Our children and young people’s therapy service provides occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy for children and young people in Hertfordshire. 

Why we chose an integrated service

The integrated therapies service delivers holistic support for a child or young person’s needs, under one provider, with multidisciplinary working across the three clinical therapy professions.

Our focus is on maximising children and young people’s functional skills and abilities to support them to be happy, healthy, safe and independent at home and in school. We share the vision of our partners in Hertfordshire County Council to ensure every child has the best possible start in life and the best opportunities throughout their education.

As part of Hertfordshire’s Professional Promise, we are committed to placing children and young people with SEND, together with their families, at the centre of what we do.

Our service offer

More detailed information about the children and young people’s therapy service, including how the service is delivered, referrals and how we work with children and their families can be found in our service offer.

Our services

To find out more about the three services we provide please follow the links below:

• Children's occupational therapy
• Children's physiotherapy
• Children's speech and language therapy

Training and workshops

We are currently reviewing our training courses and workshop sessions, so that these can be delivered in a new virtual format. Training session dates are currently available on the individual profession pages. New dates and details are added regularly so please come back and check again if you are interested in any of our sessions.

Service delivery during COVID-19

Children and young people’s therapies has changed the way we are working due to the COVID-19. On 19 July 2021 there was a relaxation in government rules surrounding COVID-19. However, the NHS will continue to adhere to existing guidance

Process for face-to-face appointments

• Please do not attend a face-to-face appointment if you, your child or anyone in your household is exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms or if you or your child are required to self-isolate during the time of the appointment.
• Only one parent/guardian is permitted to attend the appointment with a child. Please do not bring any other children to the appointment.
• On arrival at the HCT centre, please follow local instructions provided when the appointment was booked. Please arrive at your appointment time as there is limited waiting space in the buildings and car parks. A clinician will collect you and lead you to the clinic room. Clinicians will be wearing personal protective equipment, as per recommended guidelines.
• We ask that you maintain social distancing wherever possible and when entering the building, please ensure that both of you are wearing a face covering or mask (very young children or those with additional needs will not be required to wear a face covering or mask).
• Strict cleaning procedures are in place.
• HCT PPE school poster
• Social story on PPE for school visits

If you have any urgent or new queries please contact the service advice line on 01923 470680, Option 3 and a therapist will contact you to discuss your concern.

Please remember to also look on these website pages under 'Useful Information' for further advice and support.

"You said, we did" poster - Children and young people's therapy service

Address: ,

The children’s community nurses are a team of nurses who are trained to care for sick children. We do most of our work in the child’s home. We also work in community settings such as clinics, schools and nurseries. The service is based in Watford and the nurses work across all of West Hertfordshire. Clinics are held in St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Watford. We work closely with the paediatric team at Watford General Hospital as well as specialist hospitals such as Great Ormond Street. The service is provided for all children age 0 to 18 or 0 to 19 (if still at learning disability school). The service operates seven days a week and extends to 24-hour care when this is required to support a child at the end of life.

Our aim is to reduce the impact of childhood illness and reduce the need for hospital admissions. When hospital admission is needed, we work to reduce the length of stay whenever possible. The nurses will support children with long term conditions such as childhood cancer. They will also see children who require short term care for example following surgery. The nurses are skilled in managing a wide range of complex conditions, which allows the child to spend as much time as possible at home with their family.

Children's community nursing team leaflet

Contact the service

Tel: 01923 470680

Children's community nursing service offer

Address: St Alban’s Health & Wellbeing Centre,  Civic Centre,  St Albans,  AL1 3JE, St Albans, AL1 3JE

The children’s eye service monitors and treats children with reduced vision and related eye conditions.

The Children’s and Young People’s (CYP) Eye service provides an accessible, and child friendly service for CYP aged 0-16 (up to 19 from local SLD schools).

The care and treatment are tailored to the needs of the patients and their families.

The service provides eye assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for children and young people where there are concerns regarding reduction of vision in one or both eyes (amblyopia), squints, eye movements problems, binocular vision problems, and where there is a strong family history of squints, amblyopia or glasses from 5 or under.

The service is also able to offer assessment and treatment for patients with visual processing difficulties, and CYP with special educational needs (SEN) and learning disabilities.

The patients seen in the clinics are typically under the age of 8 years old. After this age, they are usually discharged to the care of a High Street Optician.

Contact the service

Service Leads - Judy Bee and Catherine Stewart

Contact: judy.bee1@nhs.net, catherine.stewart22@nhs.net

hct.cypspecialistservices@nhs.net or telphone  01923 470680 option 2

Locations of service

• St Albans Health and Wellbeing Centre (Children's Eye Service) - St Albans
• Marlowes Health & Wellbeing Centre (Children's Eye Service) - Hemel Hempstead

Parking at our centres

There is no available parking at St Albans Health and Wellbeing Centre and The Marlowes Health and Wellbeing Centre. There are a limited number of disabled car parking spaces.

For St Albans Health and Wellbeing Centre, the closest public car parks are the Civic Centre Car Park and Charter Close Car Park.

For The Marlowes Health and Wellbeing Centre, the closest public car parks are the Watergardens and Gadebridge Park.

Address: St Albans Health and Wellbeing Centre (Children's Eye Service) - St Albans Marlowes Health & Wellbeing Centre (Children's Eye Service) - Hemel Hempstead, St Albans and Hemel Hempstead, AL1 3JE

The children’s hearing service (also known as paediatric audiology) offer a comprehensive family friendly service for babies, children and young people living in West Hertfordshire where there is a concern about their hearing or a known hearing difficulty.

We are a multi-disciplinary team consisting of skilled and experienced paediatric audiologists, a consultant in audiovestibular medicine and audiology assistants. We assess, manage, and treat children of all ages and abilities, including children with complex additional needs.

We liaise closely with our colleagues in the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme, Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) doctors, the adult audiology team and the education support service for hearing impaired children to ensure a thorough and smooth service is provided for all children.

We hope this website will cover all the information you may need in advance of your visit to the children’s hearing service and for the continued support of your child.

Information for those awaiting an initial appointment

When your child's referral arrives in the Children's Hearing Service this will be triaged by one of our audiologists and we will establish the urgency of the referral and the most appropriate clinic for your child's appointment. In some cases a referral may be rejected if deemed inappropriate or if there is missing information.

Once a referral is accepted by our service, you will be sent a referral acceptance letter. If you have received a referral acceptance letter from our service; we would like to reassure you that your child remains on our waiting list and will be offered an appointment once they reach the top of the waiting list. Although we aim to see all children within 18 weeks of referral, unfortunately our waiting times for routine hearing assessments have increased significantly beyond this. We are unable to give an approximate time frame for any appointments.

If you have significant concerns regarding your child’s hearing, please contact us on the departmental email address and our clinicians will endeavour to respond to your email as quickly as they can. Please include your child’s full name and date of birth in your email.

When we are able to offer your child an appointment, you will normally be contacted by letter with an appointment date and time. Occasionally short notice appointments will be offered by telephone. If you are unable to attend the appointment, please contact us as soon as possible to rearrange the appointment.

Information for those awaiting a follow-up appointment

We aim to see all children on time for their follow up appointments, unfortunately our waiting times for routine hearing assessments have increased significantly. If you have significant concerns regarding your child’s hearing, please contact us on the departmental email address and our clinicians will endeavour to respond to your email as quickly as they can. Please include your child’s full name and date of birth in your email.

Contact the service

For queries regarding an initial appointment for your child following a referral please contact the Referral Hub

Email: HCT.CYPSpecialistServices@nhs.net 

Phone: 01923 470 680 (Option 2 > Option 1) (9am-4.45pm)

For queries regarding a follow up appointment for your child or any other query for example regarding a hearing aid or hearing aid supplies please contact us via the Children’s Specialist Services admin team.

Email: herts.audiology@nhs.net

 

Address: Children's hearing service,  Civic Centre,  St Albans AL1 3LD, St Albans, AL1 3JE

HCT and West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust run an integrated asthma and wheeze nurse-led service that aims to improve outcomes and to support children, their families and local services with the long-term management of asthma/wheeze to prevent attacks. The nurses provide a collaborative approach as a community and hospital integrated team with children being seen in clinics according to clinical need.

Full details are available on this information flyer for patients

Clinic locations and timings

• Peace Children’s Centre, Watford – Monday mornings and Thursday Afternoons
• Marlows Health and Wellbeing Centre – Alternate Thursday afternoons
• St Albans Health and Wellbeing Centre (Civic Centre)– Tuesday Afternoons

Address: Peace Children’s Centre,  Watford – Marlows Health and Wellbeing Centre – St Albans Health and Wellbeing Centre (Civic Centre)–, WD17 3EW