Cheshire Learning Disability Services :: Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Learning Disabilities

Cheshire Learning Disabilities Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (LD CAMHS) works with young people up to the age of 18 who have a diagnosis of a severe or profound learning disability and behavioural difficulties. Our aim is to try and understand the reasons for the child/young person’s behaviours and then develop strategies and ideas to help. We work closely together with parents/carers and other professionals.

Who is the service for?

The team accept referrals for young people who have a diagnosis of a severe learning disability and behavioural difficulties.

A young person who has a severe learning disability (diagnosed at birth or in early childhood) will:

Have little or no speech
Find it very difficult to learn new skills
Need support with daily activities such as dressing, washing, eating and keeping safe
Have difficulties with social skills
Need life-long support

The young person will have an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) that states they have significant needs in the cognition and learning section of the plan. Young people with severe learning disabilities will require at least one-to-one adult supervision in the community at all times.

Behavioural difficulties are a form of communication and may indicate that there is an unmet need. Behaviours are communicative and can occur to obtain attention, obtain something / access to an activity or to get out of an activity or avoid something. Children with communication and language problems are more likely to use inappropriate behaviours to get their message across. Other factors that may contribute towards behavioural difficulties include a physical health problem, a mental health difficulty or a traumatic experience in their life.

The team also provides support to young people from birth to entry into school who have a diagnosis of global developmental delay who display behavioural difficulties and or sleep problems. This is currently offered in Ellesmere Port, Chester, Macclesfield, Poynton, Wilmslow, Knutsford and Sandbach only.

How to access the service?

The LD CAMHS team accepts referrals from parents and any other professionals involved with the young person.

The team accept referrals via phone, email and post, a referral form will need to be completed, please view our referral form or alternatively you can call the team.

The team will also request latest copies of the young person’s Education Health Care Plan, an up-to-date paediatric letter and any recent reports that may help the team to confirm eligibility for the service.

What will happen at your first appointment?

The team will contact you to arrange the first appointment, this can be over the phone, at a clinic base or online.

For clinic appointments you will be sent a confirmation letter with directions of where to go and for all appointments you will be sent a consent form, and a brief initial assessment form to complete and return to us.

The appointment will be with one or two of the nurses from the team and will last approximately an hour, you do not need to bring your child/young person to the appointment.

At the appointment we will ask you more details about your child and their health, we will ask about the presenting difficulties and think together with you about the best type of support for these difficulties, this may involve signposting you to other services.

At the end of the meeting we will let you know what the next steps will be.

Where are we based?

Cheshire West and Chester

Kingsley Resource Centre

Kingsley Resource Centre
Coronation Road Workplace Hub A picture containing building, brick, outdoor, sidewalkDescription automatically generated
Coronation Road
Ellesmere Port
CH65 9AA

Tel: 0151 488 8041
Email: cwp.ldcamhs.west@nhs.net

Reception

There will be staff in the office when you arrive who will help you.

Parking

There is no parking at this building. The nearest Car Parks are:

Whitby Park CH65 9AF (free)
Civic Way Car Park CH65 0BE (there is a cost for this car park)
There is one disabled parking bay outside of the Kingsley Resource Centre building