Early help, care and support and transition for disabled children: Ceredigion County Council

We undertook an inspection with assistance from Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) (External link) and explored how Ceredigion County Council is providing early help, care and support and seamless transition for disabled children and their families.

Transition in this context can mean moving from children’s to adult's services in social care, from children’s to adult's health services, or from one phase of education to the next.

The inspection identified that current practice results in good outcomes for children as well as areas for improvement and barriers to progress.

Key Findings

Strengths

Well-being – Ceredigion County Council has set out its positive ambition for disabled children. This vision is committed to corporately and will be used to inform revised operational structures and procedures in due course.

People – voice and choice – we found the ‘active offer’ in relation to the Welsh Language is routinely made, ensuring the linguistic needs of children and parents are considered and acted upon.

Partnerships, integration and co-production – we found the co-location of different professions was viewed very positively by practitioners and partners.

Prevention and early intervention – we established that on first contact with the local authority, parents are provided with a comprehensive range of information about services which may be of interest or assistance to them.

Areas for improvement

Well-being – we recommend that Ceredigion County Council ensures disabled children and families receive the right care and support at the right time

People voice and choice –we identified that there needs to be a rights based approach ensuring disabled children and their families have a voice, informed choice and control over their lives

Partnerships, integration and co-production – we recommend the local authority ensures effective partnerships and integrated arrangements to commission and deliver high quality and sustainable services that meet the needs of disabled children and their families.

Prevention and early intervention – we identified a need for a planned strategic approach to timely and proportionate early help and prevention

Next steps

We expect the local authority and local health board to give attention to areas for improvement in the report. We will monitor progress through our on-going performance evaluation activity with Ceredigion County Council.

To see all our findings and recommendations read the full report below.