Vranch House

Vranch's North Devon Children's Physiotherapy Team is based in Barnstaple at the Health Centre in Vicarage St. The team is led by Lucy Wills and comprises 3 other physiotherapists, Victoria Brunton, Rhiannon Powell and Charlotte Westlake with support from Clinical Administrator Kathryn McDine.

Overview of the North Devon Children's Physiotherapy Service

The team provide treatment and advice in a number of different settings depending on the need, such as;

• Barnstaple Health Centre Outpatient Department
• Home, where the child is too fragile to travel or where equipment requires setting up or monitoring
• Within Mainstream School/Nursery settings
• Special Schools, Pathfield and Lampard Vachell
• Highfield Specialist Child Assessment Centre
• Venues where joint assessments are arranged with other professionals and parents/carers
• Outpatient Clinics held at Torrington and Holsworthy Hospitals for the convenience of families
• North Devon District Hospital Children's ward and Special Care Baby Unit where a child has been referred for neurological assessment and training for staff

Joint clinics with Exeter Mobility Centre, the Wheelchair Service (EMC), are held in the Physiotherapy Department at Barnstaple Health Centre, and at Pathfield Special School on a termly basis. This allows families to be seen with their Physiotherapist in a local setting their child is familiar with, and is additional to the monthly clinics EMC provide at Barnstaple and Bideford Hospitals and in Exeter.

A wide variety of conditions are treated such as;

• Neurological - Cerebral Palsy
• Neuromuscular - Muscular Dystrophy, SMA
• Congenital - Spina Bifida
• Developmental Coordination Disorders
• Developmental Delay
• Postural and gait abnormalities (including Hypermobility and Musculo-skeletal conditions) in the young child.

We have an open referrals system and receive referrals from a variety of professional sources as well as from parents and carers.

Within the team all Physiotherapists treat children with a variety of conditions, as outpatients and in the community. Individuals have also developed specific roles and interests allowing the service to offer a high level of evidence based care to children and families.