Children's physiotherapy - Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Our children’s acute physiotherapy team provide a comprehensive range of services for babies, children and young people with musculoskeletal, neurological or cardio-respiratory conditions.

The services we deliver range from treatments for common disorders, to more specialist care for complex problems, such as hydrotherapy, non-invasive ventilation and Ponsetti casting for congenital foot deformities.

Care and support when and where you need it

Our team includes clinical specialists and highly skilled and experienced physiotherapists and assistants. We treat children and young adults from all over North East, and sometimes from across the UK. We see patients at the Great North Children’s Hospital at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, and at the Freeman Hospital.

Outpatient appointments

For some of our specialty services, we offer outpatient appointments, home visits or school visits. We also run outreach clinics in towns such as Carlisle, Darlington and Sunderland.

For all our patients, the first stage of treatment is a comprehensive assessment. This is carried out by an experienced paediatric physiotherapist, skilled in helping children and their families feel at ease.

Once we’ve identified the problem, we believe in involving the whole family to set goals for your child’s treatment.

Treatment sessions are fun and interactive, and involve the whole family as much as possible. We may also help you to learn treatment techniques you can continue with your children yourself.

We work closely with all the healthcare professionals involved in your child’s care, and we’re involved in discharge-planning and referral to local community physio teams.

Meet the team

We have a number of specialty areas:

Musculoskeletal team

This team incorporates orthopaedics and rheumatology.

Our orthopaedic service covers an inpatient orthopaedic ward (that admits both trauma and elective patients) and outpatients. Referrals are accepted from consultants within the Trust, GPs and paediatricians. We also treat congenital (from birth) abnormalities, including foot deformities and hip dysplasia. We also run regular hydrotherapy sessions and gym classes.

Our rheumatology service covers both in and outpatients for inflammatory and non-inflammatory conditions that may need drug therapy, joint injections, casting and in some cases rehabilitation stays. We will give you advice, education and individualised exercise programmes.

We also offer direct access to our physiotherapy service through the consultant-led clinics, as well as routine out-patient appointments. This service covers out-reach clinics in Sunderland, Bishop Auckland and Carlisle.

Cardio-respiratory team

The respiratory team cares for children in both the Great North Children’s Hospital and the children’s heart unit at the Freeman Hospital.

We work with children of all ages with conditions such as cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, following surgery, complex heart surgery, heart or lung transplant, and pneumonia.

Children are cared for on the wards, in PICU, children’s high dependency unit, and sometimes in a clinic, school or home.

With young children their development may be delayed, especially if they are sick for long periods of time. We will assess and provide advice for this.

Neurological team

Children admitted to the Great North Children’s Hospital with an acute neurological problem will be assessed and, if necessary, treated by our neurology team. We see children who have had an injury to their brain or spine due to an accident, infection, bleed or a tumour.

We also see young children to assess and give treatment for developmental delay. If a baby is born prematurely, they may need to be seen for chest physiotherapy assessment and treatment, and developmental assessment. We will see them on the special care baby unit initially and followed up in clinics or as outpatients.

Childhood cancer team

Children and young people with any type of cancer will be seen on the children’s cancer ward or Teenage Cancer Unit, day unit or outpatient department. We can also see children at home and school to give advice and support.