We work with Northumberland County Council to support the health of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families living in Northumberland.
SEND Roadshows
In partnership with Northumberland County Council, the CCG held three roadshows in 2019 which provided an opportunity for parents and carers of children and young people with SEND aged 0-25, to meet with a range of different services including health, social care and education. These events, which also included teams from CNTW (spell out in full) and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, helped parents and carers gain a better understanding about the support available.
Preparation for Adulthood Guide for children and young people
Two consultation events were hosted by Northumberland County Council and the CCG in November 2019 which saw 100 children and young people (CYP), between years 9 and 12, from seven mainstream schools, three maintained special schools, one independent special school and one alternative provider.
The purpose of these consultations was to listen to views and opinions which would help shape a guide for children and young people with SEND, aged 14 years and over, about moving into adulthood. The guide is based on the national preparation for adulthood areas of health, community inclusion, independent living and education and employment. A draft of this guide has now been shared with the SEND Strategic Partnership Board and will be published here soon. Views from five parents at the event were also captured which will help shape the guide.
Local Area Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities inspection
In October 2018, the CCG and Northumberland County Council were inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, who looked at our effectiveness in implementing the disability and special needs reforms in the Children and Families Act.
We welcomed the findings from the inspection, which outline areas of strength and good practice, as well as other areas where there is still work to do..
The inspectors highlighted our drive to improve arrangements for meeting the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. The report highlights growing confidence in our services, and the pace of change and improvement.
A number of key areas of strengths were identified, including:
- The majority of children and young people entering care receive initial health assessments within required timescales.
- The complex needs of some individual children and young people are assessed and met well because local area leaders work effectively with their families to plan and commission the services and support they need.
- Speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists work together in an integrated way to assess and support children and young people who have significant and complex needs. Furthermore, they contribute to shared ‘multi-agency goals assessments’ to successfully align therapy care plans. This enables a ‘tell it once’ approach, and supports improved understanding of children and young people’s needs which, in turn, is leading to better outcomes.
- Access to early help in primary mental health services has improved. The primary mental health team provides support, guidance and training, helping professionals to better meet the needs of children and young people with low-level and emerging mental health needs.
- Community paediatricians use a ‘think family’ approach when completing person-centred assessments. This increases participation and engagement with families and improves the assessment of health needs.
- Children’s community nurses provide families of children and young people who have complex and continuing health needs with high-quality training and support. This enables children and young people’s needs to be met in non-clinical environments, reducing the need for families to attend multiple outpatient appointments.
- Some individual children and young people achieve positive outcomes as a result of timely identification and assessment of their needs and carefully integrated and highly personalised support.
The report available here also acknowledges new leadership structures which are now in place, and commends the action plans that have been developed. Together, these provide a secure platform to tackle issues and improvements head on.
The Local Area Inspection requested that as a Local Area we work together to produce a Written Statement of Action (WSoA).
The CCG and Northumberland County Council have now received notification of its approval by the Ofsted’s Regional Director.
The Department for Education, alongside NHS England, will work closely with the CCG and Northumberland County Council to provide feedback and support to enable the local area to make the improvements identified by the inspection.
More information about Northumberland services supporting children and young people with SEND aged 0-25 and their families, the local area inspection and how to get involved is on the Northumberland local offer website.
Information about the data the NHS collects to help improve the quality of care for people with learning disabilities and/or autism is available to read in a report .