Single Point of Access (SPA)
Our Single Point of Access (SPA) is the key point of contact for children, young people, families, GPs and health and social care professionals to access advice and support from all BaNES Children’s Community Services. It is essentially the single ‘front door’ for all of our services!
How can the SPA help you?
The SPA coordinates community health care advice and support for all children and young people in BaNES. The aim is to make sure that every child and young person receives the appropriate support to meet their individual needs.
A dedicated team of customer focussed administrators provide advice and support on:
- The range of services that we offer
- Referral criteria for accessing our services
- Other organisations available in BaNES that may be able to provide help
- Guidance on the referral process
- Managing appointments
- Requesting repeat prescriptions and medical supplies
The SPA is supported by a team of experienced clinicians representing our services who will:
- Provide clinical advice over the phone for families and referrers
- Signpost to other appropriate acute and community services
- Triage referrals
Referral guidance
Who can make a referral?
Usually the best referrals come from individuals who know the child or young person well, and can provide us with detailed information on their strengths and difficulties in different situations (i.e. at home v.s. at school/pre-school).
We would encourage parents or carers to contact their child’s school or pre-school, or health visitor (if child is not yet in education) in the first instance to support with making a referral.
If your child is school age and not in education, then other professionals who work closely with the child, or the family GP will be able to help support with making a referral.
If you are unsure or have any queries about our referral process, do not hesitate to call the Single Point of Access on 0300 247 0055.
What makes a good referral?
We ask that, when making a referral, you provide clear and concise detail so that our clinical team are able to fully understand the needs of the child or young person. Where appropriate, include examples of:
- The child or young person’s strengths
- The child or young person’s difficulties
- What the child or young person and the family are hoping to achieve from the referral
- What has been tried already, and whether any previous interventions have been successful
- What you believe to be their primary area of need
If you have any queries, or are unclear regarding what information you need to provide, don’t hesitate to contact the Single Point of Access who will be happy to help. 0300 247 0055 (Monday – Friday 9am – 4:30pm) or hcrg.bathnesspa@nhs.net .
How do I send information securely?
The safest (and fastest) way to send confidential information to us is via a secure or encrypted email route to hcrg.bathnesspa@nhs.net . If you have an email address that ends in one of the following domain, then it is safe for you to send us information by email, without encryption:
- Nhs.net
- Secure.nhs.uk
- Gov.uk
- Cjsm.net
- Pnn.police.uk
- Mod.uk
- Parliament.uk
If you don’t have an email address that ends in the above, don’t worry!
Just send us an email, or give us a call (0300 247 0055), informing us that you wish to send something that includes confidential data, then we can reply using the NHS encrypted email service. You will receive an email that asks you to create an account and log in to view the email.
You can then reply, forward and add confidential attachments to correspondence which will be encrypted.
Alternatively, please ask your child’s early years setting or school if they are able to return on your behalf.
For pre-schools, schools and partner organisations
If you regularly send us confidential information and you do not have access to a secure email domain, as listed above, we can sponsor your organisation to have an nhs.net email account. If you are interested in this and believe it would be beneficial, contact the Single Point of Access for further information.
What happens next?
After the Single Point of Access receive your referral, we will check to make sure all the required information is included, and whether we are the most appropriate service to meet the needs of the child or young person. We may contact you for further information at this point, if anything needs clarifying.
If it is determined that we aren’t the most appropriate service for the child or young person at this time, then we will signpost you to other service providers, community or online resources that can meet their needs. We are always happy to discuss our decision, or advise and support you over the phone if you have any questions.
If it is determined that we are the most appropriate service for the child or young person, we will inform you of this decision and what clinical intervention we believe is required. Some services may request more detailed information at this point, prior to an appointment.
