Below you can view information aimed at health professionals and other professionals working with our services to support you to make appropriate referrals to our services in St Helens. This page provides information to help you reach a decision as to whether our service is right for your patient or client and how to make a referral so they can begin accessing support.

If you have any further questions about any of the services below, either visit the service's page on our website (linked below under each service section) or contact the team using the telephone numbers provided.

Early Supported Discharge Service

Our Early Supported Discharge (ESD) Service provides ongoing therapy to patients who are discharged from an acute stroke ward following a stroke, who would benefit from further rehabilitation at home or within their place of residence and either live in St Helens or are registered with a St Helens GP.

Referrals are only accepted from an acute stroke unit for patients who have been admitted with a stroke. The ESD team is based at St Helens Hospital and will work with patients for up to six months in their own homes to assist a seamless discharge from hospital. Patients may then be referred on to other community services if there are still identified treatment goals.

You can contact the team directly for advice on 01744 646 851.

Visit the service page for more information.

Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy 

Our Musculoskeletal Services provides physiotherapy for adults in St Helens with muscle and joint conditions. We accept referrals for patients with spinal problems (neck and back) who are registered with a GP anywhere within Merseyside. For all other muscle and joint conditions (non-spinal), patients must be registered with a GP in St Helens.

You can contact the team directly for advice on 01744 415 570

Visit the musculoskeletal conditions page for more information.

Nutrition and Dietetics Service 

Our Community Nutrition and Dietetics in Knowsley and St Helens accept referrals from GPs, consultants and other healthcare professionals for adults and children who need specialist nutritional advice and support for a range of conditions, including:

  • malnutrition
  • failure to thrive / change to faltering growth
  • cancer
  • neurological disorders
  • diabetes
  • irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
  • food allergies.

Please check our referral criteria and guidance before making a referral to this service. If your patient meets the service criteria, you can make a referral using our Community Nutrition and Dietetic Service referral form.

You can contact the service directly on 0151 290 4330 or via email at dietitian@merseycare.nhs.uk 

Visit the service page for more information.

Community Physiotherapy Service 

Our Community Physiotherapy Service provides short-term domiciliary physiotherapy to patients in St Helens. Patients can be referred to the service by their GP, practice nurse, community nurse, community matron or any other healthcare professional. Please be aware that care for patients being discharged from a hospital inpatient ward is coordinated by Contact Cares. 

If you have a patient who is over 18 years of age, is registered housebound and needs physiotherapy you can refer them to our service using our referral form. 

You can contact the team directly for advice on 01744 621 715.Visit the service page for more information.

Podiatry

Our service aims to prevent, diagnose, treat and rehabilitate conditions affecting your feet and lower limbs. These include common foot care problems such as ingrown toenails and bunions. 

Referrals to the service should be made using the Podiatry Service referral form and sent to: mcn-tr.podiatry.department@nhs.net

You can contact the team directly for advice on 0151 290 2000.

Visit the service page for more information.

Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Our Pulmonary Rehabilitation Service in St Helens is available for patients with symptomatic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Referrals to the service can be made by GPs, practice nurses or any other healthcare professional by completing the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Service referral form and returning it to: mcn-tr.sthelens.pulmonaryrehabilitation@nhs.net

You can contact the team directly for advice by calling Tel: 0151 430 1060.

Visit the service page for more information.

Specialist Palliative Care

The Specialist Palliative Care Team accepts referral from health professionals such as GPs, district nurses or community matrons using the service referral form.

If you would like to discuss a referral with the team, please contact us on 0151 431 0156 (available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).

For advice, you can also contact the 24hour Specialist Palliative Care Advice Line for health professionals on Tel: 0330 058 2850.

Speech and Language Therapy

Referrals for dysphagia (eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties) are made using the team referral form and are accepted from GPs, consultants, other health professionals and nursing homes that have been trained by the service and are sent electronically to the admin hub or St Helens GP: mcn-tr.adultspeechtherapy@nhs.net

Referrals for inpatients in Knowsley, St Helens, Halton are made internally using the Rio system to PH In-Reach HUB - Adult SLT

Referrals from health professionals for communication, voice and stammering can also be made using the team referral form and are accepted by any health professional.

For referrals for voice problems the patient must have seen an ENT doctor within the last six months.

Self-referrals are accepted for communication, voice and stammering by the patient, family member or carer and are accepted by telephone to the service on 0151 244 3383.

For other AHPs or community nurses, Internal referrals can be made via Rio to Adult SLT Triage. Any referrals added directly to a speech and language therapist list e.g Communication St Helen’s, will be missed.

Assessment Team

If you need to make a referral to St Helens Mental Health Assessment Team for a patient who has moderate to severe mental health problems, visit our Assessment Team referrer information area for guidance and to access the referral form. 

Early Intervention in Psychosis Service

Our Early Intervention in Psychosis Service supports people age 14 to 65 who are experiencing first episode of psychosis.Signs and symptoms that your patient may be experiencing psychosis include: feeling like people are watching you; seeing or hearing things that others cannot; unusual beliefs; unusual manner or thinking or speech; and ideas of reference.If you are concerned about one or more of the above symptoms, refer your patient to the Early Intervention in Psychosis Service for assessment. If there is an immediate risk out of hours (after 5pm Monday to Friday, weekends and bank holidays), please refer the patient to St Helens Assessment Team.Young people age 14 to 18 should be referred to St Helens CAMHS, who will manage their care in partnership with the Early Intervention Team.You can contact the team directly for advice on 01744 646 102.

Visit the service page for more information.

Home Treatment Team

Our Home Treatment Team provides intensive community-based support for adults with severe and complex mental health problems to prevent the need for admission to hospital. Referrals to the Home Treatment Team must be made by one of our community mental health teams and should be directed to the Assessment Team in the first instance, rather than to the Home Treatment Team.You can contact the team for advice on 01744 621 688.

Visit the service page for more information.

Adults' inpatient Services

We provide mental health inpatient services for adults in St Helens, based at Peasley Cross Hospital. Our male inpatient ward is called Taylor Ward and our female inpatient ward is called Iris Ward.If you feel your patient requires inpatient mental health support, please make a referral to our Assessment Team in the first instance, who will be able to assess the individual and if appropriate, make a referral for them to our inpatient services.

You can contact Taylor Ward on 01744 626 500 and Iris Ward on 01744 627 590.

Visit the service page for more information.

Recovery Team

Our Recovery Team provides community-based services for adults with long-term mental health problems in Halton. The service is goal-focused and supports people to live their lives well with their mental health condition. Referrals to our Recovery Team should be directed to our Assessment Team in the first instance, who will be able to assess the individual and if appropriate, make a referral for them to our Recovery Team.You can contact the service on 01744 736708.

Visit the service page for more information.

Specialist Perinatal Service

Our Specialist Perinatal Service works with women with mental health problems in Halton, Knowsley, St Helens and Warrington, who:

  • Are thinking about or planning to have a baby

  • Are pregnant

  • Have a baby who is 12-months-old or younger

We can help with:

1. Preconception advice

2. One-to-one assessment and support

3. Phone consultation and advice for health professionals.

View our one-page guide to our service for health professionals, for more information about how we can help. 

Referrals for one-to-one support and preconception appointments can be made by contacting us

directly for discussion in the first instance, or by usual the referral route through your local mental

health assessment team.

You can contact the team on 01925 275 303 from 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday. 

Visit the service page for more information.

Talking Therapies St Helens

Our St Helens Talking Therapies Service provides psychological therapy services such as cognitive behavioural therapy for people with mild to moderate symptoms of common mental health problems like stress, anxiety, panic disorder and depression.

We accept both self-referrals and GP / health professional referrals to Talking Therapies. Your patient can refer themself by completing our simple online self-referral form on the Talking Therapies St Helens service page.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

We provide tier 2 and 3 child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) for children and young people up to the age of 18 in St Helens. We provide assessment, treatment and signposting for young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. All referrals to our CAMHS services should be directed to our CAMHS Assessment and Response Team. Download the CAMHS referral form or call the team for more information on 01925 579 405.

You can contact the St Helens CAMHS team directly on 01744 454 368.

Visit the service page for more information.

Children and Young People's Community Eating Disorder Service

Our Young People's Community Eating Disorder Service in Halton, Knowsley, St Helens and Warrington provides assessment, treatment and support for young people with eating disorders and their families. We deliver the service in partnership with St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and leading national eating disorder charity Beat.

Initial consultant-led multidisciplinary team (MDT) assessments will be held at Knowsley Resource and Recovery Centre at Whiston Hospital. Young people and families will then be able to attend their regular appointments with our team at a venue closer to home.

To meet the service referral criteria, patients must be 8 to 18-years-old and live in St Helens. You can use the SCOFF questionnaire screening tool to help determine whether your patient would benefit from a referral to the service. 

Referrals for patients with a suspected eating disorder should be directed via e-referral. We also accept self-referrals from service users and families via an electronic form on our website. 

Visit the service page for more information or call the team on 0151 430 1321.

Health Visiting Service

The St Helens Health Visiting Service transferred to Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust on 1 September 2021. Information about the service can now be found on the Wirral Community Health and Care website - www.wchc.nhs.uk

School Nursing Service

Our St Helens School Nursing Service transferred to Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust on 1 September 2021. Information about the service can now be found on the Wirral Community Health and Care website - www.wchc.nhs.uk

Speech and Language Therapy - Children

Our Children's Speech and Language Therapy Service in St Helens provides evidence based services that supports children and young people with speech, language and communication difficulties and/or eating and drinking difficulties. 

Our team includes speech and language therapists, therapy assistants and administration support. Speech and language therapists are allied health professionals who are required to be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Our professional body is the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT).

Contact us on 01744 415 609 or email mcn-tr.sthelens-slt@nhs.net.

Visit our service page for more information.

Memory inpatient services (Rydal Unit and Kingsley Ward)

We provide inpatient services for people age 65 and over who have memory problems such as dementia, who can no longer be supported in the community and require specialist inpatient support. Our wards (Rydal and Kingsley) have been specially designed to meet the needs of people with memory problems and are based in Knowsley and Warrington. The wards are available for people living in Halton, Knowsley, St Helens and Warrington  

Visit the service page for more information.

Older People's Community Mental Health Team / Memory Assessment and Treatment Service

We support people age 65 and over who have mental health problems and people of any age with a diagnosis of dementia. We can also provide assessment and diagnosis for people who are experiencing problems with their memory.

You can contact the team directly on 01744 646 321. 

Visit the service page for more information.

Learning Disability Community Team

Our Learning Disability Community Team delivers a range of high quality, age appropriate, person centred services in community and inpatient settings that promote recovery, health and wellbeing.

We support people age 18 and over to access physical and mental health services that best meet their needs. This includes appointments with specialist learning disability professionals for those who need them. 

We also offer a programme of training through the Learning Disability Training Alliance (LDTA) to increase skills and knowledge of other services to facilitate person centred reasonable adjustments. 

Referral Form. 

Annual Health Check (AHC) guidance and additional resources for GPs 

The Learning Disability Annual Health Check (AHC) pack, has been developed for GPs to help identify undetected health conditions early, and to ensure there is appropriate ongoing treatment.

GPs and Practice Nurses have the much-needed skills to help people with learning disabilities get access to the care they need from health systems that they may find complex.

It is important that everyone over the age of 14 who is on a GP Learning Disability Register, has an annual health check.

In addition to the AHC pack, there are further resources below:

  • Learning Disability Friendly GP Practices – guidance on how to make your practice LD friendly, with steps on how to bring about this quality improvement programme.  
  • A Step by Step Guide for GP Practices – this guide was produced to help GPs, practice nurses and primary administration team organise and perform quality annual health checks on adults with a learning disability.  
  • AHC checklist – is for carers, family members or friends of someone with a learning disability (age 14 and over) to ensure that the person attending their annual health check provides all the information the GP needs so they can be fully assessed.

Useful links

  • NHS England – Watch these films to find out how great annual health checks and health actions plans are helping Charlotte and Harshi to keep healthy and stay well.
  • People First – a guide to annual health checks for adults with learning disabilities
  • Ardens Healthcare Informatics - Learning Disability Support
  • Learning from lives and deaths – report the death of someone with a learning disability or an autistic person

Learning Disability Intensive Support Team

People who eligible for the service are those on the dynamic support database due to risk of placement breakdown or inappropriate hospital admission.Referral to the Intensive Support Team is via the Community Learning Disability Team.

Mental health problems are common and can affect anyone, including veterans, serving personnel, reservists and their families. It's important to get help and support if you or someone you know has mental health problems.

All ex armed forces community living in the North of England can access Op COURAGE through a single phone number and email.

Call 0300 373 33 32 or email OpCourageNORTH@cntw.nhs.uk - available 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week.

Find mental health information and support for veterans, service leavers, reservists, families and carers.

Long COVID service

Referrals are being accepted from GPs only, by submission of this form.

You will need to confirm that it is over 12 weeks since COVID symptoms started (or as early as four weeks in patients with a high symptom burden or significant, unmet rehabilitation needs), and you must include all of the information, test results etc. requested in the form.

Referrals are checked and if accepted, patients may be offered an initial assessment by phone prior to their appointment with the multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

The service is suitable for patients who were treated for COVID-19 either in hospital or in the community and have signs and symptoms that developed during or after an infection that have continued for more than 12 weeks after initial infection (and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis) or as early as four weeks if clinically appropriate.

Timing is based on individual need and is at the discretion of the assessing clinician. Recovery time is different for everyone, for many people symptoms will resolve by 12 weeks (NHS, C1248, April 2021).

If predominantly organ specific problems have been identified, patients should be referred via existing routes to local specialists, rather than the Long COVID service. If patients have an underlying long-term respiratory condition and are experiencing an increase in breathlessness, once treatment has been optimised, they can be referred to the Long COVID service for further support and referral to appropriate services.

COVID disease is an infection caused by a corona virus. Long COVID is a term to describe the effects of COVID-19 that continue for weeks or months beyond the initial illness. The health watchdog NICE defines Long COVID as lasting for more than 12 weeks, although others consider symptoms that last more than eight weeks to be Long COVID.

Details of how some people are affected by Long COVID are still emerging, but research suggests around one in five people who test positive for COVID-19 have symptoms for five weeks or longer. For around one in ten people, they last 12 weeks or longer.

These long-term effects are often reported by people who didn’t need to go to hospital during the acute phase of COVID. Long COVID symptoms commonly experienced by patients include:

  • fatigue
  • breathlessness
  • anxiety and depression
  • palpitations
  • chest pains
  • joint or muscle pain
  • not being able to think straight or focus (‘brain fog’)
  • dizziness
  • persistent cough
  • loss of taste or sense of smell.

At our clinics, people can be seen by different members of the team. Each patient will have different problems due to their COVID-19 and our aim is for you to see the right people to help you and, meet your needs.

Members of the team you could see on the day of your appointment may include:

  • GP and Community Matron
  • Social Prescriber
  • Pulmonary rehab physiotherapist.

Each appointment will focus on the different symptoms that you may be experiencing so you may not need to see every member of the Long COVID Team.

The clinic is designed to help people who still have symptoms related to a COVID infection after 12 weeks. The aim of the clinic is to identify what symptoms a person is experiencing and how this is affecting them day to day. We help them find resources and/or treatments to manage these symptoms effectively so they can rehabilitate to living a fulfilling life.

The community matron will phone to introduce the service and complete the COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehab Screening Tool. This information allows us to understand whether the patient is experiencing problems related to coronavirus and allows us to focus on the things that are important to them.

If an assessment by phone is offered, the call usually takes place the week before the clinic appointment. It will take up to 30 minutes. This call focuses on the wider holistic assessment which means that we will assess physical problems but also consider the social, mental or financial impacts that symptoms have had.

A social prescriber from the health improvement team may also phone the patient. This call focuses on the wider holistic assessment which means that we will assess physical problems but also consider the social, mental or financial impacts that symptoms have had.

On completion of appointments, this may include referrals to other services, the team will meet to produce a care plan. This will be a summary of the plan that each person has discussed during the patient’s appointments. The care plan will be posted to the patient and the GP.

Patient’s may be invited to attend the clinic six months later. The decision whether the patient needs to be seen in the clinic will be a joint one between the patient and the member of the team who contacts them.

There are many helpful resources available:

Having Long COVID is very distressing and can often impact your mood, making you feel sad or low or more anxious than usual. There is support available, you can find the support local to you by following the links:

If you need information on sick leave please visit the following websites:

More information when planning return to work:

Other charities or services that you may find helpful offering emotional support and information to those experiencing mental health difficulties, their families and carers:

Call NHS 111 (free from a landline or mobile) when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency. Available 24 hours per day.

Mersey Care also provides phone support for people experiencing a mental health crisis via the freephone numbers below: