Health and social care

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:

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:

• The NHS Integrated Care Board -  This is a new organisation that is legally responsible for NHS spending. It replaces the previous Clinical Commissioning Groups.  It is known as the NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB).
• An Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) - This is not an organisation but is a regular meeting that brings together around 60 senior health and care partners. It will be responsible for developing the overall health and care strategy for the whole of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
• Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust (MPFT) - provide servics sich as community therapies (for example speech and language therapy and physiotherapy) and nursing services, the DSR team and key workers.
• University Hospital of The North Midlands (UHNM) - is the Children's Hospital, they also provide Community Pediatric services, Doctors and Experienced Nurses who will support in the assessment of your child's needs.
• North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust (NSCHT) - provide our CAMHS Services, Autism Assessment, Learning Disability services, C(E)TR team and adult mental health services.
• Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU) - provide Continuing Care

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