To consider an update on the NHS Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s Looked After Children Annual Report for 2015/16.

The Panel considered the report of the NHS Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s Looked After Children Annual report for 2015/16 which outlined future developments and commitments from the Annual Report 2015/16.

Points and comments included:

1.    A new Health Passport was being developed in conjunction with NHS England and the possibility of the use of a mobile app to access the passport. The health passport was  a physical document which would be kept by the young person. A copy was also kept by the Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (BCCG) and the individual’s GP.

2.    The Central Bedfordshire CAMHS team was now located at Stephenson Court, Bedford.

3.    The East of England protocol for Looked After Children and Care Leavers would be rolled out in early spring.  An update on the protocol would be given as part of the annual LAC Health Report.

4.    South Essex Partnership Trust (SEPT) was commissioned to provide a service for Looked After Children in Bedfordshire and East London NHS Foundation Trust currently provided all mental health services including CAHMS.

5.    Challenges in meeting the statutory guidance for the completion of Initial Health Assessments (IHAs) included late referrals from social workers and young people not attending their appointments. Following some challenges in summer around the IHA process for asylum seekers, resilience had been placed within the team to add extra clinics if needed. There was also the ongoing issue of trying to ensure that Looked After Children placed out of county attended IHAs.

6.    The results of an examination of the health of local children in care had shown that their physical health was a mirror image of the health of children in the general population. However, their emotional health was not.

7.    All GPs attended training for Looked After Children as part of level 3 of their safeguarding training and each GP surgery had a safeguarding lead which provided the link between the surgery and the Designated Nurse for Looked After Children. Health visitors should be aware of LAC on their case loads.re as the safeguarding needs of LAC were identified under the Universal Partnership Plus offer. Work was ongoing to establish a link between School Nurses and Designated Nurses.

8.    Initial Health Assessments for Looked After Children service currently covered the age range of 0-19 years. The possibility of extending the current age range and improving the transition from children’s services to adult services was being looked at as part of the SEND agenda.

9.    If a young person is still in education they can contact the LAC team for support around issues such as mental health or a change in lifestyle.

10. A project was taking place to look at the commissioning of health services for care leavers which would include consultation with commissioners and care leavers about possible improvements to the current process.

11. The Panel requested that a sub-section on carer leavers health be added to the CCG annual report.

NOTED

the NHS Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s Looked After Children Annual Report for 2015/16.