My Care Bridge referral process - Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

Important updates within mid and south Essex for children and young people requiring Autism and/or ADHD assessments.

Due to significant increase in referrals and rising wait times we have implemented the following changes effective from Monday 1 September 2025:

All referrals for school aged children (age 4-15) will require a minimum of 3 terms with documented evidence of One Plans or equivalent (e.g. Individual Education Plans or Early Support Plans) to be uploaded to MyCareBridge by the school or parent/carer. Exceptions will be considered for home-schooled children and young people aged 16-17.5.

— Referrals from all health professionals must be submitted via the My Care Bridge portal. Where appropriate, Health professionals should encourage referrals to be made by the school or nursery setting.
— The date of referral will start once all required information has been collected on the MyCareBridge Portal, this includes Parent/carer questionnaire, school questionnaire & one plan evidence as noted above, these will have a 4 week deadline and if not returned will be rejected.
— All referrals must be made via the MyCareBridge portal.

These changes will allow us to focus resources where they are needed most and reduce wait times for families.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

How to refer

My Care Bridge is an easy to use and secure online portal and has been developed in collaboration with healthcare professionals, education professionals, and families and carers. It is available for children and young people who are aged up to 18 years old and are registered with a GP in mid and south Essex. This includes Chelmsford, Braintree, Maldon, Castle Point, Rochford, Southend, Basildon, Brentwood and Thurrock.

It is for new referrals only – current referrals will continue to follow existing administrative pathways.

Educational settings (including nurseries, schools, and colleges), GPs, health visitors, and other healthcare professionals can use the portal to make and track referrals.

Parents and carers will be sent a login when a referral has been made. They will be able to login to the portal to provide information for their child’s referral, track the referral and access a library of support available locally.

My Care Bridge been developed by the Mid and South Essex Community Collaborative, a partnership between Essex Partnership University Trust, North East London Foundation Trust and Provide Community.

To access the portal

Provide Community (Chelmsford, Braintree and Maldon): My Care Bridge portal
NELFT (Basildon, Brentwood and Thurrock): My Care Bridge portal
EPUT (Castle Point & Rochford and Southend): My Care Bridge portal

Please email the children and young people’s team in your area to be added to the portal:

NELFT (Basildon, Brentwood and Thurrock): [email protected]
Provide Community (Chelmsford, Braintree and Maldon): [email protected]
EPUT (Castle Point & Rochford and Southend): [email protected] or [email protected]

You will be emailed with access information when your referral is made by a GP, health visitor, or educational setting.

If you are having issues accessing the portal, please contact the service:

Pathways

To refer a child or young person to the neurodevelopmental diagnosis pathway, please login via My Care Bridge portal.

Only Schools, GP’s and other professionals are permitted to make a referral. If you are a parent or carer seeking support for either of these conditions please speak to your GP or other professional to discuss making a referral.

The professional who knows the child or young person best should make the referral. If the child is in education, this will usually be their school or nursery, rather than their GP.

GP/SystmOne Users: Please complete the referral form via SystmOne eConsult Referral. Send a task to Administration, Community Paediatric Service at The Lighthouse Child Development Centre.

If your child is accepted onto an assessment pathway, the child’s parents/carers and education provider will need to complete a screening assessment questionnaire. You may also have to submit additional information via the portal.

To refer a child or young person to the Tics and Tourette’s pathway

Schools or Parent: Please send the completed referral form to us via email: [email protected]

Parent/carer to complete Supplementary Screening assessment questionnaire – to be completed by child’s parent or carer. Use this link to download the form.

Education to complete Supplementary Screening assessment questionnaire – to be completed by the child’s pre-school, school or education provider. Use this link to download the questionnaire.

Parent/carer and Teacher/Pre-school to be completed Tics and Tourette’s questionnaire Use this link to download the questionnaire.

For school aged children or young people, the school must also submit a recent progress report and any SEN plans the pupil has in place.

Please email the completed questionnaires, school progress report and SEN plans to [email protected].

GP/SystmOne Users: Please complete the referral form via SystmOne eConsult Referral. Send a task to Administration, Community Paediatric Service at The Lighthouse Child Development Centre.

The following professionals can refer children, young person to our neuro disability pathway

Healthcare professionals s (GPs, Paediatricians, Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists, Health Visitors, Nurses, Educational psychologist)
Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCo) / Teachers
Early Support Workers

To refer a child or young person with Developmental Delay, Functional skills, Balance and Coordination, Postural Management, Gross motor skills, Neuromuscular/ Neurological, Musculoskeletal using this referral form.

Send using this referral form and email to: [email protected]

GP/SystmOne Users: Please complete the referral form via SystmOne eConsult Referral. Send a task to Administration, Community Paediatric Service at The Lighthouse Child Development Centre.

What to do if the child’s mental health deteriorates

If there is a deterioration in the young person’s mental health while waiting for their assessment, please see the Southend, Essex and Thurrock (SET) CAMHS website for advice and information about mental health services: https://www.nelft.nhs.uk/set-camhs-get-in-touch/

You can also call 0800 953 0222 to speak to someone from the SET CAMHS team of healthcare professionals.