Putting children and young people with SEND at the centre of Services in Rotherham

Establishing effective partnerships across education, health and care  3.13 Local authorities must work to integrate educational provision and training provision with health and social care provision where they think that this would promote the wellbeing of children and young people with SEN or disabilities, or improve the quality of special educational provision. Local partners must co-operate with the local authority in this. The NHS Mandate, NHS Act 2006 and Health and Social Care Act 2012 make clear that NHS England, CCGs and Health and Wellbeing Boards must promote the integration of services.

Partnership with children, young people and parents  3.18 At a strategic level, partners must engage children and young people with SEN and disabilities and children’s parents in commissioning decisions, to give useful insights into how to improve services and outcomes. Local authorities, CCGs and NHS England must develop effective ways of harnessing the views of their local communities so that commissioning decisions on services for those with SEN and disabilities are shaped by users’ experiences, ambitions and expectations. To do this, local authorities and CCGs should engage with local Healthwatch organisations, patient representative groups, Parent Carer Forums, groups representing young people with SEN and disabilities and other local voluntary organisations and community groups.

Consider who would have been involved in supporting this family ?

Although resources are often spread thinly, we have a wide range of services intended to support families with a disabled child or young person. Why should we work together? A family may need to work with many different people and services to gain the best for their child/young person. If these services do not work together, the result will be fragmented with duplication and gaps, and disabled children and young people will not be able to achieve their full potential. How should we do it? Ensuring consistent and timely access to services in health, education, local authority and voluntary and community sectors, and efficiently coordinating these, requires a conscious and systematic commitment to a multi-agency and family-centred way

When a family has a disabled child, they often feel as if they have to battle to get support and that the services they do get are complicated and difficult to understand. “My daughter is now 13 and I still have to explain everything from the beginning at every appointment. I never know who to contact when there is a problem as we see so many different people. I just wish it was all joined up and people would look at my daughter as a “whole” person, it would make life so much easier” A young person may find it hard to make sense of the complexity of support “I feel confused as to who is doing what among all these people who keep asking me the same things. Hospital sometimes ask Mum to talk to school and they don’t listen or school want hospital to do something and they don’t listen” As a practitioner, you can help families to navigate the maze. If you are in partnership with families and local services you can ensure that the children you work with get the best available help and that you are an effective part of the support team.

 The child or young person and family should be at the heart of practice  Having clear strategies co planned, produced and delivered enables everyone involved to create better outcomes for the child/ young person and their family  Working together is about openly sharing concerns, knowing limitations and then establishing solutions and plans. It is about establishing collective ownership of a need and working together to deliver support  It is important to think holistically. Remember that families have emotional as well as practical needs  Local and national voluntary organisations are an excellent source of information and support, particularly for signposting. When looking for information to share with families, try to ensure that it is accurate, timely and understandable

Working together effectively requires regular, clear and open communication with other team members, including the child or young person and their family. This is important in large team meetings and smaller meetings, for example, when you have appointments with families. If its about us, don’t do it without us