Health and social care

Social care

When people hear about children’s social care they may immediately think of children’s social work. However social care help can come from a number of different places including Early Help, Aiming High and Social Work.

Thresholds of Need Guide this document sets out guiding principles for services within the Partnership to provide. The guide is mainly to advise professionals working with families to ensure the correct level of support is made available.

Health

Health Services in the Stoke-on-Trent Local Offer are designed to meet a range of needs, including the needs of children and young people with SEND. These services include providing training and education to other professionals, so they can meet any needs across homes, schools, and care settings.

The NHS website is also a useful page with a Health A-Z and Information on NHS services including 111, GPs, pharmacies, dentists, opticians, and local emergency care. If you are worried about an immediate health concern, please use the NHS website for information and guidance.

There can be times when as parents you might be worried about your child. The following are regular concerns parents have:

  • My child doesn’t seem to be doing the same things as other children
  • My child doesn’t seem to be talking the same as other children their age
  • My child doesn’t seem to be moving around like children the same age
  • My child doesn’t seem to be playing well – they like to be on their own
  • My child isn’t eating/drinking well, I’m worried about their diet
  • My child isn’t sleeping well
  • My child isn’t toilet training easily, they seem to get lots of runny poo or not poo at all
  • My child is very tearful, they cry a lot or get very upset easily
  • My child’s behaviour is different – they seem very quiet or frustrated or angry, they change quickly,
  • My child doesn’t seem to concentrate on anything, they don’t seem to remember things

If your child hasn’t started school or a nursery, please call the integrated 0-19 service.

These services are open to every child or young person. They may be all ages, children-specific or adult-specific. They are the first place to go when you are worried about a possible health problem. You do not need a referral for these services. They may also provide online information you can use to help your child or young person or that the child or young person can access themselves.
They include:

  • Integrated 0-19 Health Visitor and School Nursing Service
  • General Practitioners, Pharmacists, Opticians and Dentists
  • Emotional Wellbeing Services

The following services take self-referrals from children, young people and parents:

Targeted Intervention Service

Emotional Wellbeing and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS):

A referral will be required to access the following services for you or your child. Schools may need to have carried out some initial checks and programmes before they refer to these services;

  • Speech and language therapy
  • Physiotherapy
  • Occupational therapy
  • Children’s community nursing team
  • Learning disability team
  • Autism assessment
  • ADHD assessment
  • Eating disorders.

These will all require a referral from a health or education professional. Details of the referral criteria and any pathways are on individual service websites or pathway pages.

These services and processes can include the Dynamic Support Register (DSR) and Continuing Care.

Health services in the Stoke-on-Trent Local Offer are purchased (commissioned) by Public Health (Local Authority), The Integrated Care Board (ICB) or NHS England (NHSE) depending upon which type of service and the level of health and wellbeing advice, assessment, support, or care they provide. They have 3 outcomes (aims, goals)

  • to improve health and well-being physically and mentally support us to stay well
  • to get better when we are ill and when we cannot fully recover or be cured to stay as well as we can throughout our lives

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS.

The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care System (ICS) was formed on 1st July 2022.  It brings together a range of partners to redesign the way we plan and deliver health and care services.  This includes local and neighbouring NHS organisations, local authorities, and the voluntary sector.  This approach enables more effective use of resources, leading to higher quality, more efficient and effective services.

There are several parts of the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS that include:

They may also work with other organisations sometimes known as ‘partner affiliates’, these can include voluntary organisations such as charities.

Independent providers can also be commissioned to provide some very specific services such as Wheelchair and Equipment Services.

What to do if you have a compliment, concern or complaint?

Then please use the PALS services for the organisation responsible for the service you have the compliment, concern or complaint about.

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board have appointed a designated clinical officer (DCO) to support the implementation of the Children and Families Act and the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) legislation.

The DCO has a key role in ensuring that there is an awareness and understanding of the SEND legislation by all local health providers of services.

There is a requirement for local health services that are already involved in meeting the health and medical needs of a child or young person with SEND to contribute to an assessment of all their needs. This is usually given through a report to support the application and preparation of an Education Health and Care Plan. The advice should include details of the support and/or care that a child requires to meet the outcomes agreed by the child or young person, their parents or carers, and the health provider.

The DCO has a role in ensuring that this is facilitated on behalf of the Integrated Care Board. Stoke-on-Trent's DCO is Catherine Lewin. Catherine can be contacted via email or by telephone at 01785 907776