SEND health support

This stage includes everyday health services that many families use. These services help identify early concerns around development, speech, physical health or emotional wellbeing. Examples include:

• Speaking to your GP or health visitor if you notice something about your child’s development that worries you.
• Using Bromley’s SEND Local Offer or b-Hive, Bromley’s therapy hub, to find practical health and development information, advice and local support services.

These universal services help build a picture of how your child is developing and whether more targeted help may be useful.

If your child needs more than universal support, they may be referred to health professionals to help to understand your child’s strengths and needs. This sits alongside SEN Support in education and is part of the Assess–Plan–Do–Review cycle that schools use.

Targeted health input may include:

• Assessments from paediatricians, occupational therapists, mental health specialists or speech and language therapists.
• Working with you and your child’s education setting to decide what help is needed, how it will be delivered and when it will be reviewed.

This level of support helps everyone understand your child’s needs more clearly and ensures the right strategies are put in place.

If your child has ongoing or more significant needs, the local authority may carry out an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment. Health professionals always provide input into this stage.

This may involve:

• Written advice from relevant health services to help describe your child’s needs as fully as possible.
• Helping shape an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC plan, often referred to as an EHCP), where appropriate, which sets out clearly what support must be provided.
• Access to specialist pathways, such as Bromley’s autism referral information and support.

This ensures that children with more complex needs receive co-ordinated, long-term support across education, health and care.

For a small number of children who have very complex or high-risk needs, Bromley offers extra joint planning to make sure they have the right support in the community.
This includes:

• The Children and Young People’s Dynamic Support Register, bringing together health, education and social care to support children at risk of mental health crisis or hospital admission.
• Care, Education and Treatment Reviews (CETRs), which help plan the right care and support to keep children safe and well.