A SADDLEWORTH councillor has led the criticism of a ‘worrying’ report Into Oldham’s services for children with special needs.
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission found ‘significant concerns’ over SEND provision by the Oldham Local Area Partnership.
It has been told to ‘urgently’ address and improve issues of delays, and the quality of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.
The inspection found more than 1,800 children waiting around three years for access to NHS speech and language therapy services.
And Liberal Democrat Councillor Helen Bishop, who represents Saddleworth South, believes it is ‘failing.’
She said: “Overall, the borough is failing to provide adequate support and learning outcomes for children and young people with Special Educational Needs, many of whom face significant challenges to receiving an education that is fit for purpose.
“The aim should be for pupils with additional needs to be equipped by the local authority to fulfil their academic potential, not just to keep them occupied, or offer them an education that is little more than a tick box exercise.
“I have spoken to many parents who are at their wit’s end and feel as though they face a relentless battle to get the support they know their child needs.
“They feel constantly fobbed off, and some slip through the net altogether, having become totally frustrated with the system.
“The council needs to produce a swift response to the report, with a clear commitment to working meaningfully with children, their parents and carers, and education professionals to improve the situation, accompanied by a timeline against which progress can be clearly monitored.
“We cannot allow a culture of failure to take root.”
The Ofsted and Care Quality Commission report cited ‘unacceptable’ waiting times and years-long delays which are ‘negatively impacting’ youngsters.
It states: “There are widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities.”
And an ‘unacceptable length of time to have their health needs accurately assessed and met in Oldham’ led them to surmise: “This has a significant, negative impact on children’s and young people’s outcomes and well-being.
“There has been a failure to address historical and increasing waits in services, which is impacting negatively on the lives of children and young people with SEND.
“For some children and young people, their needs have not been met for some time.
“These excessive waits result in children and young people not getting the help that they need for many years.
“Children and young people with SEND at all stages of their education face unacceptable delays in having their speech and language needs identified.”
Positives were highlighted, including ‘strong, timely’ support for those with complex needs and visual or hearing impairments and the ’emotionally based school avoidance initiative’, which supports children and young people to attend school effectively.
However, inspectors believed ‘new’ strategies were ‘yet to make a real difference to children, young people and their families’.
In a joint statement, Oldham Council, NHS Greater Manchester and Oldham Integrated Care Board, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust – which are all responsible for the provision and commission of SEND services – accepted the findings.
“The safety and care of all Oldham residents is a priority for Oldham Council and health organisations in the borough, so we take all reports and feedback on how effective the services we provide to each and every person extremely seriously,” they said.
“It is reassuring and a testament to all the hard work from everyone involved that the inspectors recognised the progress that has been made since the last inspection in 2019.
“We acknowledge that the report has identified some significant areas to improve that we, as a group of local partner organisations, must address as soon as possible. These improvements include urgently identifying and addressing delays and gaps in access to health services.
“We are now focused on delivering a priority action plan that will address the concerns outlined in the report.
“Progress against these action areas will be overseen by enhanced partnership governance arrangements to ensure that improvements are made as quickly as possible.”
Oldham has also achieved membership of the government’s North West SEND Change Programme Partnership, which will bring in an extra £5.8 million of funding for provision in the borough.
The statement added: “This funding will help us to refine and reform SEND services and is already closely aligned to our existing strategies, especially those concerned with addressing speech language and communication needs of children with SEND.”
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