AAC West Referral

AAC WEST

AAC WEST, as one of 15 national specialised services, is able to carry our Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Assessments. We receive funding from NHS England to meet the needs of both children and adults in the South West of England.

Who can refer?

Referrals to AAC WEST will only be accepted from speech and language therapists working with people with communication difficulties.

If you do not have a speech and language therapist involved with your care, then please contact your GP who can refer you to your local service.

Please note we do not accept referrals from Independent Therapists; you must be employed by a CCG or Statutory Body to make a referral. 

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility criteria for NHS England augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) services

Eligibility criteria for NHS England specialised AAC services

Decision Chart: Guidance on Referral Criteria for Specialised AAC Services

How do I refer?

All referrals should be made using the appropriate referral form which must be fully completed, please ensure they are completed electronically and not by hand. They should also be accompanied by a short video and preferably by any relevant and current reports. Please note that if you are re-referring your patient, but they have not been seen by our service for more than 3 years please complete the full referral form to give us more up to date information to aid our assessment.

Download:

New/Full Referral Form (To be completed by Speech & Language Therapists only)

Current New/Full Referral Form being used and accepted by the service is Referral dated – January 2025

Symbols for supporting consent conversations about information sharing.

(LSLTs will need to create additional symbols e.g. for specific family members as needed.)

Re-referral Form (To be completed by Speech & Language Therapists Only)

Triage Loan Referral Form (To be complete by Speech and Language Therapists only)

Existing Service Users - If mounting only is required please use the following referral form (Can be completed by anyone e.g Family members, Friends, Care staff, Teachers etc):

Please note: we are unable to process any referrals that do not have the GP details or patients NHS number or are hand written. Any referrals received without these details will be rejected.

What about funding?

When someone is referred to AAC WEST, we check if they meet the national NHS specialised AAC services criteria. 

We review this during the assessment to see if they still meet the criteria. If they meet the criteria, AAC WEST will fund the AAC they need. If they don’t meet the criteria, they might still find AAC helpful, but the equipment should be funded by local services.

For more details about the national NHS Specialised services criteria see the open the National AAC Documents webpage, opens in same window