An all age disability service for Kirklees

Kirklees Council are considering developing an All Age Disability Service (a working title). The aim would be to reshape teams that currently work with children and adults with a disability to become an all age disability service – one that maximises the independence of children and young people in preparation for adult life and enables a seamless experience for disabled users in Kirklees.

Healthwatch Kirklees have discussed this idea with people with a disability and their parents/carers and the following themes emerged: People feel almost all the care, support and services mentioned in the engagement process are important to them. Some people feel that having an integrated, All Age Disability Service in Kirklees will be a positive step which should alleviate difficulties at times such as transition from children’s to adult’s disability services. There is some concern about the idea of having an All Age Disability Service; some people feel the integration of services is a cost cutting exercise and are fearful of either adult’s services or children and young people’s services losing funding. People want to have a very clear idea of how an All Age Disability Service would impact them – what will change, what will stay the same, what will there be less/more of? Many people value the support they access at community-based settings, but some spoke more negatively about the help and advice they have received from statutory organisations. People would like good quality support which is accessible to all and is flexible and responsive to the needs of people with a disability and their parents/carers.