Between 1 November 2024 and 6 January 2025 we are making some changes to our referral process for our Children and Young People's Autism and ADHD services. 

The most important thing is to put support in place straight away – this can happen without diagnosis, assessment or referral. This means that needs-based support can be provided as early as possible, and children and young people do not need to wait for a formal diagnosis.

From now until 6 January 2025, we will be embedding the updated process and the following will apply:

• Partnership referrals: Referrals will be made jointly by families, early years settings, schools, or another professional with direct knowledge of the child or young person, making sure that those who know the child or young person best provide the information that we need. This will mean completing an additional information document together. Information on this can be found on our  guidance page.​
• Support in place: Until 6 January we will ask for information about the support that is currently in place or will be put in place. The expectation will remain (as it always was) that a support plan is in place for at least 10 weeks before a referral for ADHD assessment is made.
• Pre-referral checklist: Until 6 January 2025 the pre referral checklist on this page is for you to use as guidance before deciding if a referral is needed.

From 6 January 2025 the following will apply:

• Partnership referrals: Referrals will continue to be made jointly by families, early years settings, schools, or another professional with direct knowledge of the child or young person, using the additional information document mentioned above.
• Support in place: From 6 January 2025 we will ask that a support plan has been in place for at least six months before making a decision about referring for both autism and ADHD assessment, or a request to consider starting ADHD medication.
• Pre-referral checklist: From 6 January 2025 we ask you to make sure you have worked through everything on the pre referral checklist on this page  before deciding if a referral is needed.

If you have a concern about anything in addition to possible ADHD and/or autism, please read the relevant service information below, and make a referral if needed. Then come back to review the information on ADHD or autism support - please do not delay requesting help for mental health or other concerns, as these referrals can be made immediately.

Find out more about the changes to the referral process.

Please visit our guidance page to find out more about what to do if you are thinking about possible autism or ADHD.

Making a referral to CAMHS

Support with mild to moderate issues

Getting Help Team

The Getting Help Team offer brief, focused evidence-based interventions in the form of CBT support and guided self-help with children and young people who demonstrate mild/moderate anxiety or low mood.

If the child is under 12 years this intervention may be primarily with the parents. If the child is 12 years plus the interventions are predominantly with the young person. 

Referrals can be completed by GP, parents/carers, school staff, young people or any other organisation that the child/young person is known to. All referrals come through via the Early Help Hub within each locality.

Mental Health Support Teams

Mental Health Support Teams offer evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy-informed interventions to children and young people experiencing mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression similar to the Getting Help Team detailed above, however a practitioner known as an Education Mental Health Practitioner is based within certain schools within the borough. 

Early Interventions in Psychosis

The criteria that must be met for a referral to the Early Interventions in Psychosis Team are:

• The patient has experienced a period of psychosis for at least one week
• The period of psychosis has been accompanied by a decline in functioning
• It is the first episode of diagnosed psychosis and symptoms emerged within the past three years
• The patient has not previously been prescribed anti-psychotic medication
• Patients from age 0 will be considered
• Referrals must include a detailed history of the presenting complaint
• In borderline cases, strong objective indications such as being at peak age or a first-degree relative, will be taken into consideration.

We usually do not accept referrals for:

• Drug induced cases where psychosis remits once drug use stops, usually within seven days
• Cases where a clear organic cause is evident
• Symptoms which are wholly explicable in the context of PTSD or personality disorder
• Crisis case should be referred to acute services in the first instance 

Those considered in an At Risk mental state will have the following criteria:

• Experiencing distress
• Be in younger adulthood (typically between 14-30)
• Have evidence of decline in social functioning by 30% over the last year which has been sustained for at least a month

With at least one of the following:

• Mild psychotic-like symptoms that are distressing but do not meet the threshold for psychotic diagnosis, but significant enough to gain clinical attention (present at least once a week for a month over the last year)
• Frank psychotic symptoms that last for less than one week and resolve spontaneously
• Strong (first degree relative) family history of psychotic illness 

CAMHS Learning Disability Team

If you need to make a referral for a young person with a moderate to severe learning disability who is experiencing a significant emotional or mental health need and/or significant challenging behaviours associated with a mental health need, please fill in our referral form.

Further CAMHS Support

Our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) provides support, advice, guidance and treatment for children and young people with severe or moderate mental health difficulties whose symptoms are having a significant impact in their day to day lives. Usually, these symptoms will have been occurring over several months and won’t have responded to prevention and early intervention services, such as counselling and behaviour support, evidence-based parenting or treatment from primary mental health workers.

Certain conditions (such as bedwetting, family relationship difficulties and obesity) should not be referred to CAHMS unless there is evidence of other severe mental health concerns at the same time. These conditions are better dealt with via specialist clinics, your local authority’s education services, GP, or the Local Offer for your area (opens in new window).

Our HealthHub team is available from 8am-8pm Monday to Friday if you need to talk to someone about a young person prior to making a referral.

We accept referrals from health, education, children’s services colleagues, parents and carers. Young people can also self-refer if they are over 16. 

Please read the CAMHS referral criteria (PDF, opens in new window) carefully before you go ahead and make a referral using the link below.

Make a referral to CAMHS

Referral consent statement

Berkshire Healthcare CAMHS are committed to providing patient-centred care. As part of this commitment, we work in partnership with a range of local organisations, including local authority services, voluntary and community services and the University of Reading, who are also funded by the NHS to provide emotional wellbeing and mental healthcare for children and young people across Berkshire. Our collaboration involves sharing relevant health information and data to improve patient outcomes. 

In some cases, we may signpost or refer you to other agencies that are funded by the NHS to provide the services that will best meet your needs. In other cases, you may be seen by a clinician from one of our trusted partners who is working alongside us on activities such as reviewing and triaging referrals and delivering clinical treatments that support the delivery of a streamlined pathway of care, to ensure that children, young people and their families are supported to access the right help and support as quickly and efficiently as possible.

If it is felt that it will best meet your needs we will refer you to our trusted partner, the University of Reading AnDY (Anxiety and Depression in Young People) Clinic, to provide NHS-funded emotional wellbeing, mental healthcare. This includes sharing relevant health information and data in line with data protection laws and regulations (Protecting your data (Privacy notice).

We will always make it clear to you when care is and is not being provided directly by Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and we will only share your information relevant for your referral. There is no difference in the standard of care you will receive from the AnDY Clinic. Clinicians working in other NHS-funded services are qualified to provide the type of care that you need and supervised in line with NHS requirements, and Services that we work with will also process data in line with data protection laws.

Make a referral to Children's Community Nursing

Please note:

We do not accept referrals for overweight children. There is an information pack available which you can access by contacting your local dietetics team. 

Our community paediatricians provide medical advice, assessments, diagnosis and treatment for children and young people in Berkshire up to age 18 (or 19, if still in specialist full time education).

Our team helps manage a range of childhood disabilities and disorders through our community clinics. We run a variety of different specialist clinics providing child-centred assessment and management of developmental problems and social communication difficulties.

We also provide statutory assessments for Child Protection, Children in Care and EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan).

Our East Berkshire teams operate from our main clinics in Upton Hospital, St Marks Hospital, and the Margaret Wells-Furby Clinic in Bracknell, as well as clinics in Arbour Vale School in Slough, Manor Green School in Maidenhead and Kennel Lane School in Bracknell.

Our clinics are designed specifically for children and young people. We have child changing facilities, access for pushchairs/wheelchairs, and disabled, children and family car parking spaces at the front of our clinics. We aim to be flexible and can adapt to our patients’ clinical needs, social circumstances, ethnicity, and culture.

Make a referral to the Community Paediatricians

Our occupational therapy team helps children who have difficulties doing everyday activities, such as dressing, feeding, writing, socialising and play, due to a problem with their fine motor skills, coordination and/or ability to make sense of the world around them. We also provide advice and guidance on sensory strategies, and specialist equipment such as off-the-shelf hand splints, adapted cutlery and plates, writing aids and specialist seating for schools.

Please check that all the strategies relating to their difficulties in the Health and Development section have been tried, and if you still have concerns please make a referral as below.

For more information on the assessment process please see our Occupational Therapy service page.

Make a referral to Occupational Therapy

We are a small Paediatric Continence team comprising clinical nurse specialists and nursery nurses. We support children up to 19 years of age experiencing delayed toilet training, daytime wetting, treatment-resistant night time wetting and chronic constipation and/or faecal soiling, and their families.

Before referring a young person to physiotherapy, please check that all the strategies relating to their difficulties in the Health and Development section have been tried.

For more information on our service please see our Physiotherapy service pages.

Make a referral to Physiotherapy

Make a referral to Specialist Dietetics

Our Speech and Language Therapy team assesses and supports children and young people with speech, language or communication difficulties. We also work with children experiencing eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties.   

Please visit our Speech and Language Therapy pages for more information on our service. 

Make a referral to Speech and Language Therapy

If you wish to make a referral to a children and young people's service not listed above, or you wish to refer to multiple services, please do so here.

Make a referral