Issue - meetings

[To receive an update on the performance reporting and timeliness of health assessments for children and young people in care.]

Jazmine Walker, Head of Children and Young People in Care presented the Health Assessments report and highlighted salient points. The report sought to update the Corporate Parenting Board (CPB) on the challenges and actions identified in March 2021 and the improvements in the performance reporting and the completion and timeliness of initial and review health assessment for all children and young people in care.

A query was raised around access to the COVID-19 vaccine for children and young people in care and if there had been any challenges around this. For children subject to care orders who were eligible for the vaccine, the Authority was able to consent for them to receive it.

It was noted that children were always supported in making an informed decision, however in the event of children saying they did not want the vaccine, legal advice was sought by applying to the Court for oversight to determine if they could have it. For those subject to Section 20 where parents still had an active role in decisions for their child, the parents would be consulted and legal advice taken where consent was not given.

Assurances were offered that there had been an encouraging uptake of the vaccine in children and young people in care.

It was acknowledged that quality of assessments and timeliness had improved and a query was raised around the potential barriers that may affect timeliness. It was noted that there had been time issues relating to accuracy of paperwork sent to health colleagues by social worker teams and delays were caused by incomplete assessment paperwork being returned. To address this, a quality assurance system had been put in place where administration staff checked paperwork before passing to health colleagues. Other delays may have been caused by paperwork not being returned on time following assessment.

Another barrier identified was foster carers not taking children to appointments and the exploration of ways to address this had become a priority. It was noted that sometimes non-attendance was due to appointment times occurring during the school day, but more analysis was needed therefore monitoring of reasons given for non-attendance was underway.

It was confirmed that appointment times were sent via letter although there was no follow up. As foster carers were considered to be professionals, there was an expectation that they would either attend with the child or rearrange the appointment as appropriate. Members acknowledged the professional status of the foster carers but suggested exploring a method of following up on appointments in case of human error.

It was confirmed that Eclipse was working more efficiently and there was increased confidence in the information in the Power BI reporting output results.

Members requested that the development of a secondary follow up system to support health assessments be undertaken. It was agreed that it would be beneficial for the Authority to reinforce this extra step to support vulnerable children. It was also agreed that this would be raised with the fostering service and an update would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8