Action Plan for Brent SEND children services to be approved tonight

The Brent Health and Wellbeing Board will tonight consider a Written Statement of Action following concerns expressed following a joint inspection of the authority's and Brent Clinical Commissioning Group provision for chldren with special educational needs and disabilities. The officer's report states:

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Although some aspects of the inspection were very positive, a Written Statement of Action has been requested. Brent Council, Brent CCG and health providers have worked together to address these concerns and respond to them so that children in any setting can get the right health advice and treatment to support their education. The most challenging of these concerns to address is the waiting times issue that has arisen due to wider shortages of specialist NHS staff. Brent CCG has appointed a specialist Designated Clinical Officer to oversee and speed up the programme of health reforms. 


The inspectors required the local area to provide a Written Statement of Action in regard to the following concerns:

·      strategic leadership of the CCG in implementing the SEND reforms 


·      the fragmented approach to joint commissioning causing gaps in services 


·      the lack of opportunity for therapists to respond to draft EHC plans before they 
are finalised 


·      poor access to services for some vulnerable groups; in particular, to audiology, 
OT and speech and language therapy, limited opportunities for parental involvement when designing and commissioning 
services. 

The draft Written Statement for  Action can be found HERE.

It has to be submitted by October 23rd