Tell us what you think of Families in Partnership
We would be grateful to learn from what you think of the Families in Partnership newsletter – this minute-long survey will help us improve the newsletter for the community 👉
SEND Health Advisory Service
Published
The SEND Health Advisory Service (otherwise known as SHAS) has been established to help support children and young people across Gloucestershire who are being considered for an Education & Health Care Plan (EHCP) as part of the Gloucestershire Graduated Pathway and Amy Jones, the SEND Health Advisor Service Team Leader explains what the Service does.
The service offers a holistic health needs review to all children and young people aged 0-25, living in Gloucestershire, who are not currently receiving support from another health service.
How does SHAS virtual health needs review work?
The health advisors review all previous health records and then conduct a virtual health needs review. Due to the service being countywide, this is a one-off holistic, online appointment with Parent Carers, and the child or young person can also join if they wish.
The appointment consists of the health advisors conducting a detailed assessment of holistic health to identify any strengths, and areas of unmet need.
What happens after the virtual review?
Following the appointment, the health advisors will then signpost families to further support should unmet health needs be identified during the consultation. They then write a report which is sent to the local authority to help inform the process of Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA).
The health advisors are not case holders and so cannot make any onward referrals for further support. If professional referrals are required, the health advisors will signpost to either the GP, or the school to request these referrals be actioned to support the child or young person’s health needs.
Eligibility for a referral
The SHAS is a closed service, and so referral to the team can only be accessed via the Gloucestershire County Council Local Authority Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) process. We do not accept referrals from any other sources.
If a child is currently supported by another health service, it will be that service who will submit the health report to support the child’s EHCNA.
SHAS will accept Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment requests for all children across county, aged 0-25 that are:
- Unknown to any health service, or has not been open to a service for more than 6 months
- On an active waiting list but not yet seen by a service for support.
For more information, please visit the SHAS pages on the Gloucestershire Health and Care Foundation Trust Children and Young People's Services website. For further support, please visit the 'Health' pages on Gloucestershire's Local Offer website, Support for Families with SEND , the 'EHCP and EHCNA' pages on Gloucestershire's Local Offer website, Support for Families with SEND.