Inspectors praise support for SEND care leavers in Cornwall
Joe Lepper
Friday, August 25, 2017
Efforts to support the health needs of looked-after children and care leavers in Cornwall have been praised by inspectors.
According to Ofsted and health watchdog the Care Quality Commission the county is a "national leader" in supporting care leavers with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as one of the first to introduce "health passports" for them.
The passports are designed as an easy-to-reference healthcare record to help care leavers keep track of their medical history. The inspection team said the initiative is part of a strong information-sharing ethos in the area across education, social care and health that is helping ensure the health needs of looked-after children with SEND are well supported.
This includes regular monitoring of looked-after children who are placed out of the county.
"The local area's children in care services are a national leader in the development of health passports for care leavers, with excellent feedback from young people about its value to them," said Ofsted and the CQC in a letter to Cornwall Council and NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group outlining the findings of the inspection.
Inspectors also said they were impressed with a good use of grants to ensure young people have access to support.
This includes Cornwall's successful bid last year for a share of the Big Lottery Fund's £54m HeadStart programme, to improve mental health support for 10- to 16-year-olds. The programme includes mental health training, peer mentoring, advice on online safety and measures to tackle social media bullying.
"The new HeadStart programme is enhancing the capacity of the local area to identify and intervene earlier to meet the emotional and mental health needs of children and young people," the inspection letter adds.
Inspectors said safeguarding concerns involving young people with SEND are responded to swiftly, describing the senior management team as "ambitious" in wanting to improve their lives.
However, inspectors did raise concerns that children in some parts of the county are facing delays accessing child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
In addition, many autistic children are not well supported or being diagnosed quickly enough and communication between schools and parents of children with autism is poor.
Inspectors said that, in some cases, this relationship had broken down completely, with children being placed on a restricted curriculum or home schooled.
"In the most extreme cases, children and young people were waiting for an assessment of need or diagnosis for over two years," the inspection letter states.
"Previous actions to address delays in diagnosis have not delivered the level of co-ordinated support or sustainable improvement required."
Inspectors did, however, acknowledge that efforts are being taken by local social care and health leaders to improve this through better training and the increased deployment of "autism champions", to directly support children and offer advice to parents and staff.
Cornwall County Council's children and wellbeing lead Sally Hawken said: "It's really helpful to have an external assessment of what we do well and those areas where we need to do further work to get things right for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
"A really important part of the inspection process for me was the significant engagement with parents and carers to gather their views.
"The report shows clearly where they've suggested ways to do things differently, and where there are services highly valued for their positive impact on the lives of children and their families."
