Healthwatch SEND Local Offer review report
We worked closely with the existing network of Healthwatch Halton partner agencies to promote the project, provide us with opportunities to speak to young people and/or their families or carers, and complete a professional’s survey. The survey for families was available online and in paper format from 20th September until 1st December 2022, the survey for professionals was extended due to a low initial response rate, so this was available online from 30th September 2022 to 6th February 2023.
A total of 227 people participated in our project, with 25 people at the focus group sessions, 193 young people, parents or carers, completed the families survey, and 9 professionals completed the survey created for them.
Conclusions
The feedback received from all participants was very mixed in terms of experience and sentiment towards referrals and assessments, additional support, the Local Offer, and communication and information.
Throughout this feedback however, it is important to note that there were positive examples of experiences of assessments and additional support, and the implementation of all aspects of the Local Offer.
As the feedback regarding waiting times for assessment show, assessments could take weeks, months or up to one year or more to take place once the referral has been made, with the same being shown when awaiting additional support to be in place. Participants referred to delays and long waiting times that they felt were unnecessary, and which often had a family wide impact.
In terms of services working together there was a general agreement that patient information, case histories and care plans are not communicated well between services of different disciplines, and that often parents or carers have to tell their story repeatedly to different professionals. Utilising different software systems, lack of staffing, lack of adequate resources, and a lack of staff knowledge, were mentioned as reasons for this, but many felt that there were gaps in services, barriers to accessing services and that services were disjointed.
Feedback about the Local Offer website was largely negative, and users found it to be too difficult to navigate, not relevant or up to date, confusing, and not easy to read and understand. Advice from professionals suggested that digital access, digital skills, and literacy skills were barriers for people in accessing the information on the Local Offer website.
There was also a strong indication that people would like to be more involved in the Local Offer through providing feedback, attending meetings or being involved in consultations, but many don’t know how to access this, some however reported that they already attend meetings and give regular feedback and are satisfied with the amount of involvement hat they have with the Local Offer.
This shows that the opportunities for involvement in the Local Offer are there, but there is a lack of information on how to access it.
Recommendations
- Improve Assessments:
- Review the delays and waiting times for assessments and additional support.
- Review consistency of access to support for young people, their parent or carers throughout and beyond the assessment process.
- Ensure assessment procedures allow for family expertise to be a core element of assessments.
- Improve Joint Working Protocols:
- Ensure joint-working protocols are in place in all services and disciplines involved in the Local Offer.
- Monitor joint-working protocols to ensure they are being followed by all services and disciplines involved in the Local Offer.
- Refresh and redesign the SEND Local Offer website:
- to make it more user friendly in terms of ease of use, navigation to relevant information and levels of literacy used.
- Involve parents and carers in designing a Local Offer website which responds to their needs better. A redesign should take account of a range of access needs (e.g., pictures may help some groups but may be problematic for others without a description) and ways of presenting information which is navigable by people with a range of additional needs, including sensory impairments.
- Improve family involvement in the Local Offer by promoting the different ways that people can get involved through digital and non-digital means.
- Design a broader approach to communicating the Local Offer information in a more user-friendly way with non-digital options that are accessible to people who do not have digital access or skills.
- Improve communication between professionals and between professionals and young people/parents/carers.
- Demonstrate clear processes for promoting and signposting to groups who can have a role in supporting young people, parents, and carers, throughout the process.
- Education and Healthcare Plans (EHCP)
- Improve the timeframe for EHCP creation.
- Improve the consistency and quality of EHCPs to include specific/quantifiable support which can be easily monitored and evaluated. This will enable parents/carers to have a better understanding of what support is in place and who is responsible for delivering it.
- Ensure that EHCPs are meaningful to children/young people. Provide a way for young people to provide feedback about whether EHCP actions, or support plans, are working well for them or not.
Response to report
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside's Place Associate Director for Quality and Safety Improvement for Halton and Halton SEND Partnership Board Chair, Denise Roberts replied:
“We welcome the findings of the report and would like to thank our Healthwatch Halton colleagues for compiling the report and all those who gave up their time to share their experiences.
“We’re aware of the challenges many children, young people and their families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) experience, and the report’s findings show the impact that any additional barriers can have on their day-to-day life.
“While we are already in the process of addressing many of the challenges, the Halton SEND Partnership Board is committed to reviewing all the recommendations and working with partners across Halton to address them appropriately.
“As One Halton, the council, NHS organisations, GP practices and voluntary organisations are working together to make the health and care system work better for Halton’s residents - working as one to join up services, share ideas and resources and tackle the borough’s biggest challenges.”
