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Hearing from parent carers - a view from the Designated Medical Officer
Published
Following on from the success of our Designated Clinical Officer (DCO) – Charlotte Ward – presenting at last year’s SEND Information Fair, it was fantastic for our Designated Medical Officer (DMO) – Charlotte McAuley – to be invited by Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum (event hosts) to give a key-note talk this year.
Charlotte’s talk included information on the role of the DMO, her work as a SEND champion with Gloucestershire Hospital Foundation Trust, and the strategic work she undertakes for NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board.
A large chunk of the session was given over to parents and carers to ask questions; these were answered as much as possible on the day, but there was reassurance given that the questions would also be followed up in this month’s Families in Partnership Newsletter.
You asked us about:
Wait Times for Autism and ADHD Assessments
We were pleased to provide parent carers with more information about the changes to the Children’s Autism and ADHD Assessment Service (formally SCASS, and now knows as CAAAS).
You can find out more information here.
Neurodiversity
A number of parent carers spoke to us about neurodiversity and we would like to share our local website providing information on supporting a child’s neurodiversity journey. As part of the move to a single service for Autism and ADHD – hosted by Gloucestershire Health and Care (GHC) – we made the decision to integrate this website into GHC’s website.
The pages contain clear and accessible advice about how parents can support their child or young person’s neurodiversity needs, as well as clear information about the new assessment pathway.
It provides families with information relating to Right to Choose, as well as explaining what will happen where families have chosen to pay for an ADHD assessment from a private healthcare service.
One of the most popular sections in its previous format was “Answer Child Behaviour Questions” and this is also embedded into the page. There is guidance for specific needs; videos and toolkits; and strategies for supporting a range of needs, including sleep, toileting and eating.
Transition to Adulthood
Some parent carers asked us about what support is available to help children and young people move from children’s health services to adult health services. We appreciate this is an area that can cause worry and concern, and there is currently work across health providers in relation to this.
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has more information about moving between children’s and adult’s services here.
Additional Support to Access Services
You asked us about what support is available for children and young people accessing health services; we told you about health passports, hospital liaison teams, annual health checks and reasonable adjustments.
To find out more information, please visit here.
There were some individual level queries and follow-ups that have been picked up offline. We also acknowledge that we don’t yet have all the answers to your concerns, particularly around what you told us with regards to services not always being joined up. We recognise the challenges this can cause for families and will feed this up to relevant boards.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the Parent Carer Forum for organising such an excellent event, and to the parent carers who took time out of their day to attend the talk/share their experiences with us.