Tuesday 28 March 2017
A review of care provision for children with disabilities carried out in 2016 highlighted a need to update the manner in which HSC's services for children with disabilities operated so that a fair and transparent process for both assessment and service delivery that met the needs of individuals was introduced.
A single point of access for families whose children receive care will now be put in place, and, for children with more complex needs, a lead member of staff to contact about any issues that arise will be appointed to a family. Children's Disability Services will also utilise a dedicated assessment panel who will apply clear and consistent access criteria to each individual service user.
This new access framework means that HSC, and the families it serves, can be confident that the right level of care is provided to each individual child, that decisions are consistent, that resources are fairly targeted, and that the appropriate level of support is maintained over time.
As part of this assessment process, and as envisioned within the Children and Young People Plan, new service delivery models will provide for greater levels of inclusion as services are designed in partnership with the Youth Commission, Sports Commission and other providers of activities and opportunities for children on island, as well as providing the short break services that families currently value and enjoy.
HSC anticipate that there will naturally be changes to the level and nature of support some families will receive as the new assessment process rolls out. The overriding principle however is to ensure that children receive the right package of care for their needs at the appropriate time, and because need changes over time, HSC can only align service effectively through an ongoing process of fair and transparent assessment.
Nikki Gallienne, Head of Children's Community Service said:
"We are committed to ensuring the services we deliver are developed around the needs of children and their families. Our plans to modernise services for children with disabilities aligns to this goal. Having developed a plan for change, we want to work with families to explain how we make decisions and use our resources in this area. We have, therefore, organised a series of meetings/workshops which will allow my team to directly engage with families to ensure our services have the most positive overall impact to our most vulnerable children across our islands".
