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JSNA

SEND Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

Telford & Wrekin are committed to improve education, health and care services with strategic partners, parent carers and children and young people.

In Telford we have worked collaboratively and in true partnership to create our Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) for SEND.  A JSNA contains a wide range of information to build an accurate understanding of the needs of children and young people who have SEND in Telford & Wrekin.

Background

​The aim of the JSNA is to build evidence for local commissioning plans and services by collating and analysing a range of data, information, lived experience and feedback.  It creates a comprehensive picture of children and young people who have special educational needs and/or are disabled in Telford & Wrekin. 

“The purpose of JSNAs…is to improve the health and wellbeing of the local community and reduce inequalities for all ages.  They are not an end in themselves, but a continuous process of strategic assessment and planning – the core aim is to develop local evidence-based priorities for commissioning which will improve the public’s health and reduce inequalities… Department of Health, 2011

This helps us address the following:​

‘Are we doing things in a joined-up way that makes the best use of all locally available resources, and are these things making a difference to children, young people and families so that they feel the system is supporting them?’

The JSNA includes:​

  • A description of the population of children with special educational needs and/or disability
  • A range of user views ​
  • Evidencing gaps in service provision and develop recommendations on how these may be addressed. ​

How the JSNA was created

  • It was led by the SEND Joint Commissioning Task & Finish group that includes PODS Parent Carer Forum as the recognised voice of parent carers in Telford & Wrekin 
  • We worked with a range of stakeholders including PODS and young people, to ensure a broad range of evidence is collated
  • A JSNA workshop (Feb 2020) was held with a wider set of stakeholders, hearing the evidence and feeding into the process and recommendations
  • We referenced the Council for Disabled Children JSNA best practice guidance

Key Findings from the JSNA

  1. There are rising numbers of children with SEND, particularly with autism and poor social emotional mental health. 
  2. At the 2-2 ½ year old check, almost 1 in 3 children are not at or above the expected level in 5 areas of development
  3. Moderate learning difficulties are the most common primary need of pupils with SEND.  We perform below the national target in all 4 standards to reduce over-prescribing of medication for CYP with Learning Disabilities. 
  4. Parent Carers value some services, but report poor experiences from others.  For example, there are gaps in service provision i.e autism and trauma and long waiting lists in services such as autism, SALT, physiotherapy
  5. Improve access to information and support to navigate education, care and health services and development of published pathways, clear information and better communication
  6. Need to improve engagement and co-production with children and young people
  7. Opportunities to build on digital and information management improvements put in place during Covid times i.e information sharing, casework practice, service delivery

Gaps in Data

The process identified local gaps in data, listed in detail within the JSNA as areas to address for future versions, primarily within community health services.

Recommendations and Actions

The data and findings from the JSNA process has been used to identify a set of actions to improve the provision of Health, Education and Care services locally.  They are listed below, more detail is contained within the full document.  Progress on actions will be monitored via the SEND Aiming High board.

 Area

Recommendation

Early Years​

​Enhance collaborative local action to give every child the best start in life​

Autism Services​

Recommission diagnostic pathway and commission a community support offer

Positive Behaviour Support​

To commission a Positive Behaviour Support service for CWD initially and scale up

Sleep​

To establish and publish the community health pathways in relation to sleep​

Continence​

To establish and publish the community health pathways in relation to Continence​

Tics & Tourettes​

To establish and publish the community health pathways in relation to Tics and Tourettes​

SALT​

To review and improve SALT services

Community Nursing​

To review community nursing services

Physiotherapy​

To review Physiotherapy services

Transition​

To improve information and clarity of pathways for services and transitions from 14 years​

Maternity Services​

To support the LMS on the MLU review across the county and ensure co-production

SEMH

Improve emotional health and wellbeing in children and young people. 

Public information​

To ensure clear and accessible service information, referral and service pathways​

Community Wellbeing​

Build upon our community-centred approach to improve wellbeing.   Build a strong and sustainable local offer for social prescribing, using asset based approaches. ​

Accessibility, Acceptance, Inclusion​

To support a range of stakeholders including communities and staff in health and social care settings to ensure accessibility, acceptance and inclusion. ​

SEND prevalence

Undertake analysis of why there is an increase of SEND in secondary schools

Data,  Intelligence​

To develop a data dashboard.  To re-launch the Children with Disabilities Register​

Market Development​

To develop the social care market with regard to sufficiency of PA’s and community services

Support Planning

Use the Progression Model to maximise independence ​

SEN Mediation​

Commission a SEN Mediation service​

Navigating the System​

Support for families to navigate the system – peer support/buddy system/emotional support/’key worker’ approach for parent carers.​

Digital delivery

Embed the use of digital and use of Assistive Technology to assist independence.

Housing​

To support the Assisted Housing Strategy

LD Health​

To support improvement in the health and wellbeing of people with Learning Disabilities​

JSNA Updates

A JSNA is not a one-off document, but will require regular updates to ensure it provides an ongoing accurate picture of service delivery, helping to identify further areas of improvement.

The JSNA will also be used to help shape forthcoming SEND and SEND-related strategies.