Specialist children's services in Camden: Experiences of local families
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Local residents have said that specialist children’s services are a priority area for Healthwatch Camden. The introduction of the Children and Families Act, which becomes law in September 2014, means that this is a time of great change for children’s services. The Act introduces a change to the way that information about services is provided. It places a duty on local authorities to publish information about the provision it expects to be available for children with special educational needs and children with disabilities.
Another significant change is the introduction of Education Health and Care (EHC) plans which will replace statements of Special Educational Needs, bringing together information about all aspects of care and support in one place. This should help services work together more effectively with improved coordination. The Camden local authority will be consulting around its “Local Offer” in September 2014.
Healthwatch Camden conducted research to gather opinions from local families at outreach events and then conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with a sample of seventeen local families to better understand their experiences as users of specialist children’s services.
A number of recurring themes emerged. Healthwatch heard that the specialist children’s services offered by Camden are good and are highly valued by local families. However, a gap remains between people’s entitlement to services and their initiation along the pathway that helps them to access those services. This gap is felt particularly strongly among preschool age groups, among groups with more modest thresholds of need who do not qualify for an Education, Health and Care Plan (formerly a Statement), and among groups with very complex or rare conditions.
A resounding theme emerging from parent feedback was that information, advice and access to services is “hit and miss”.
This report summarises the interview responses grouped under common theme headings. Drawing from what families told us, Healthwatch Camden makes ten recommendations about the design and delivery of specialist children’s services in Camden.