Health

Many children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities will also require support from the health service.

If you require support from the health service (including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)), the starting point is likely to be a referral from your GP.

if your child attends a maintained school, an academy or a pupil referral unit and has a medical condition, the governing body/proprietor must make arrangements to support your child at school.

The governments statutory guidance Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school explains to schools, parents and carers how this duty should be carried out. You can check this guidance to see if your school is meeting its duties.

The Role of the Designated Medical/Clinical Officer

The SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years (the Code) at paragraph 3.45 states that a Designated Medical Officer (DMO) or Designated Clinical Officer (DCO) should be appointed by the local health board to support the Integrated Care Board (ICB) in meeting its statutory responsibilities for children and young people with SEN and disabilities.

The role of the DMO/DCO is to:

act as a point of contact for local authorities, schools and colleges when notifying parents and local authorities about children and young people they believe have, or may have, SEN or a disability, and when seeking advice on SEN or disabilities,
act as point of contact for local authorities, schools and colleges seeking health advice;
support schools with their duties under Supporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions guidance.

Information including the contact details for Westmorland and Furness LA’s Acting DCO can be found on the SEND Local Offer Acting Designated Clinical Officer (DCO)

Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans

You can ask for an EHC needs assessment for your child or young person with health needs if:

they have or may have special educational needs, and
it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made via an EHC plan.

Your child will need to meet both elements of this threshold to be entitled to an EHC needs assessment. If your child has, for example, significant medical needs but does not require any special educational provision, they will not meet the threshold for an EHC needs assessment, but they should have their needs supported. They should have a health plan which would set out how they should be supported.

If a child or young person has an education, health and care (EHC) plan, this should cover their health needs relating to their SEN.

Where does health provision go in an EHC plan?

Health care needs and provision will be detailed in Sections C and G, as long as the local health body (ICB) has first agreed it can be included in the EHC plan. If the ICB refuses to include health care provision in the EHC plan, it will still have to deliver it under the relevant health legislation.

Health care provision that ‘educates or trains’ such as Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy is to be treated as special educational (section 21(5) of the Children and Families Act 2014).

Speech and Language Therapy/Occupational Therapy and any health provision that ‘educates or trains’ a child or young person must be written into Section F (special educational provision) of an EHC plan.

Appealing to SEND Tribunal

If the EHC plan has been recently finalised without the relevant or accurate health provision, you may be able to challenge it by appealing to the SEND Tribunal. However, you can only do this if you also want to appeal Sections B (needs), F (provision) and/ or I (placement). When you make your appeal about one or more of these education sections, you can also ask the SEND Tribunal to consider making health recommendations.

If you do not want to appeal Sections B, F and/ or I you won’t be able to bring an appeal to get the EHC plan changed, but you will still have the right to mediation. You can mediate about just health – there does not need to be an educational element to the dispute here.

Please contact your local SENDIASS Co-ordinator for information and advice on appealing to SEND Tribunal regarding health provision and/or mediation.