Referral for an assessment
If you are referred for a full assessment, there are a couple of ways our Occupational Therapy team may see you. Once you are on our waiting list, you will be offered the most appropriate type of appointment based on your needs.
Assessment Routes
Community Assessment Clinic
To help people be seen as quickly as possible, we run Assessment Clinics in the community. Because more appointments can take place in a clinic, many people are able to be seen much sooner this way.
If our team feel that your needs can be fully understood and safely met in a clinic setting, you will be offered a clinic appointment. During your visit, an Occupational Therapist (OT) or Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) will complete a thorough assessment and work with you to identify the right support.
Home Visit
If your situation requires it, an OT or OTA will visit you at home. This may be necessary if your assessment needs to take place within your home environment.
Assessments undertaken by SCOTS are free of charge. As a result of your assessment, you may require some equipment which is usually loaned from our equipment store and is free of charge.
Normally adaptations will only be considered after looking at other options like rehabilitation or providing you with specialist equipment.
Any adaptations costing less than £1000 are usually arranged by SCOTS and are classed as minor works adaptations. Following assessment these are usually carried out within 3-4 weeks.
Works costing more than £1000 are classed as major adaptations and are referred onto our Housing Improvement Agency team (HIA). However, major adaptations to your home are undertaken by a Disabled facilities grant - GOV.UK which is means tested so you may have a contribution to pay.
Due to high demand there is a long waiting time for an assessment and a major adaptation following an assessment.
You can make an Occupational Therapy referral through our Professional Referral Portal or Self-Referral Portal.
Using the online portal helps us to process referrals more quickly, make faster decisions, and ensure people receive the right advice, information and support as soon as possible.
We do have a telephone number available for anyone who does not have access to the internet. However, we kindly ask that this number is only used when there is no other option, as online referrals allow us to manage demand more efficiently.
If you need support to complete an online referral, you are welcome to ask friends, family or professionals involved in your care to help you.
Telephone number: 0800 561 0015.
After you submit a referral through the portal, we will review the information and decide whether we can accept the referral, need further details, or if another service would be more appropriate. We may contact you by phone for more information or email you with the outcome and any useful guidance.