6-month Review of the Shropshire SEND Accelerated Progress Plan

24/01/2024

The Shropshire SEND system was required to produce an Accelerated Progress Plan (APP) after the SEND Inspection revisit last year.  This plan focuses on areas that were identified as continuing to need improvement;

• Significant waiting times for large numbers of children and young people on the ASD and ADHD diagnostic pathways
• Significant waiting times for those needing assessment and treatment from the speech and language therapy service
• Inconsistency in the quality of input from education, health and care into EHC assessment and planning

The APP is regularly reviewed by advisors from the Department For Education and NHS England  to ensure that suitable progress is being made and improvements delivered. The 6 month review of the Shropshire AAP took place in October 2023 and a summary of progress has been published  https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/media/27213/app-6-month-review-november-2023.pdf

PACC provides parent carer representation on the groups working on the areas identified as in need of improvement and the APP has been a significant focus of our work.  The experience and feedback of parent carers has been shared and has informed much of the activity that has happened.  PACC are particularly pleased to have co-produced the Neurodiversity (ND) Practitioners role and to have championed the need for improved information about the ND assessment pathway.

Similar work has been done around the Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) pathway. Following feedback from PACC representatives Shropshire Community Health Trust now publish their estimated waiting times for Speech and Language Assessments on their website, have improved their information about the variety of support they can offer, and have increased their social media presence to help better inform families.

PACC recognises that families are however still waiting for significant periods to access both ND and SALT assessments and that this is having a detrimental impact on young people and families.  PACC continues to highlight the need for increased investment in these services, as well as increased support for families pre assessment.

Education, Health and Care Plans is the area about which PACC’s receives the most feedback.  We have supported the work done to improve the EHCP quality assurance process along with improvements in how the input from health and social care services to the Education Health and Social Care Needs Assessment happen.  Annual Reviews continue to be an area of concern and families are yet to report improvements in this area.  PACC submitted a number of case studies that highlighted how issues relating to annual reviews are particularly creating difficulties during transition and are making it difficult to achieve positive Preparation For Adulthood outcomes. PACC are currently in discussions with the SEND Leads about how these issues can be addressed.

PACC will continue to prioritise work on the SEND Accelerate Progress Plan and ensure the work done is informed by the experience and feedback of Shropshire Parent Carers. As always, we send our thanks to the Shropshire SEND Community for their support and input which enables this to happen.