How to Get Involved and Make a Difference to Shropshire SEND Services

22/03/2021

Two things have been dominating PACC’s time over the past 12 months.  Obviously, one is the impact of Covid19 on the SEND Community, which has inevitably taken a lot of our attention, however just as ‘Lockdown’ started Shropshire also received its inspection report from the Shropshire SEND Inspection.  This resulted in Shropshire needing to produce a Written Statement of Action (WSOA), which is a plan to address the areas of significant weakness identified by the Inspection.

Twelve months on we are now in a position where the WSOA has been developed and agreed and we have an action plan to improve Shropshire SEND Services.  PACC has been fully involved in this development activity, ensuring that the experiences of Shropshire parent carers continued to inform this work.  The WSOA has seven workstreams, each of which has a clear set of priorities taken from the Inspection Report.  The workstreams are;

• Speech, Language and Communication

Looking at waiting times and how the SALT service can be delivered differently to improve access to support.

• Preparation For Adulthood

This group aims to ensure that there is an overview of all the work that is happening across Education, Health and Social Care to support the transition of young people into adulthood. There are a number of task and finish groups reporting to an overarching strategic group, looking at; developing paid and voluntary work opportunities, community-based opportunities for leisure, recreational activities and how young people are supported to make and maintain friendship groups, pathway information, guides and targeted information and accommodation, including supported living.

• Neurodevelopmental Pathway Development

Looking to redesign the pathway for Autism and ADHD assessment and diagnosis and pre and post assessment support. Focusing on reducing waiting times and developing a transparent criteria for assessment in particular.

• SEND Joint Strategic Need Analysis and Joint Commissioning

Ensuring that we have good data about the Shropshire SEND Community and creating a joined -up system where services work together effectively

• Inclusion

Addressing the high levels of exclusions within the Shropshire SEND School Community, considering how the issues can be better understood and support improved.

• Education Health & Care Plans Quality Assurance

Looking at the quality of EHCP’s, especially the quality of advice from practitioners that is used during the writing of EHCPs.

• Communication and Co-production

How can we make SEND everyone’s business, ensuring that people know what is happening and what support is available?Making sure that co-production is embedded at all levels throughout the system, ensuring that the Shropshire SEND Community have an effective voice in decision making.

PACC would ideally like to have parent carer representation on each workstream, we would also like to develop a parent carer reference group for each workstream, which would provide specific feedback on the work being proposed and make suggestions on what steps need to be taken to improve things.  We currently have two parent reps on the Preparation for Adulthood workstream and the EHCP Quality Assurance workstream, but only one on each of the others.  If you would be interested in participating in any of the workstreams either by attending meetings or by joining a parent carer reference group, please do get in touch with us for a chat.  You will be supported to get involved and initially when attending a meeting you will shadow a more experienced parent carer rep.  Email on enquiries@paccshropshire.org.uk or ring Sarah on 07398120311 to find out more.