Agenda item

Alison Hurley, Gerry Bates (SIRONA) and Kate Markley gave a presentation on this item and made the following points:

Alison Hurley

OFSTED had carried out an inspection of the SEND service and had identified five areas of weakness in a ratified written statement of action.

These were identified as:

·       a lack of accountability for leaders at all levels

·       a lack of a timeline assessment

·       a dysfunctional health and care process

·       a lack of quality

·       High rates of persistent absence leading to a breakdown in the trust with parents and carers

The need for rigorous community monitoring had been highlighted by NHS England. The first monitoring visit had identified a number of successes in the last 18 months including an improvement in the accuracy of data available, ensuring meaningful participation and consistency of service and the development of an Adult Health Care Plan.

The service had been significantly impacted by COVID which still needed further embedding. There remained a high level of absence of staff with parents and carers continuing to feel excluded.

Although 81 new places had opened across the city with Phase 2 opening in two to three weeks’ time, a stronger foundation was required to build resilience across the city. Whilst the majority of users were getting an enhanced strategy, there was an increase in waiting times.

A new SEND Action Plan was being co-produced with partners and would include a written statement of action.

Gerry Bates

The waiting list for community paediatricians had now been reduced with 82% being seen in 18 weeks, a big increase from 17% last year. The medical needs of users were being identified earlier.

There had been difficulties when children were seen remotely as they needed to wait for a black of therapy, including occupational therapy and speech and language therapy.

There was a need to ensure early identification led to significant progress on health visiting and an assessment to ensure intervention took place soon and signposting led to the required support.

There had been an unprecedented increase in the demand for early intervention and support. There had also been a big increase in diagnosis of autism via the User X Project.

Following an assessment of people’s experience at both ends of the process, a number of prototypes were being developed to ensure less presentation and triage and more development concerning health care through a new team.

Statutory Assessments – there had been a big increase nationally and also locally in comparison to Bristol’s statistical neighbours. Board members were shown a graph indicating work that had been carried out in this area and with a resource that had been significantly increased since 2018. It nevertheless faced a challenge in meeting the demand that had been increasing and which continued to place the system under pressure.

Kate Markley – FLORA (Families, Local Offer, Resource and Advice)

The Board noted that earlier in the pandemic they had engaged with parents in difficult to reach communities. FLORA had been set up to identify health visitors who were aware of the need to fight for children’s needs to be met.

The role of social care practitioners was to build relationships and ensure that reasonable adjustments for children were provided with support from the earliest stage in the process. They also worked with parents and could help provide support to advise them on what service they needed and through carer grants.

Board members made the following comments:

·       It was encouraging to see that there had been so much progress, particularly

in terms of working together

·       Oversight and championing SEND is one of the Council’s statutory duties and it was important to do everything possible to meet this

·       An increase in training was required to ensure an impact on certain areas such as Anti-Social Behaviour

·       Since children using the SEND services would grow into adults who might require acute services and therefore early intervention and early prevention were the key

·       A trauma informed strategy was important as a belonging strategy. It was very important that children were part of these priorities and that the system worked to achieve this

RESOLVED – that all Board members continue to actively contribute to and support the Belonging Strategy and SEND Partnership Plan.