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Disabled People: Children

Answer

We are very clear that there should be prompt access to appropriate specialist equipment to ensure children and young people’s needs are met, and to support them in living as independently as possible. There are a number of initiatives to support this aim.

The Government’s Green Paper, Support and Aspiration—A New Approach to Special Educational Needs and Disability, was published in March 2011 and the Next Steps document published in May 2012. These include a new single assessment process with a single education, health and care plan, and the option of a personal budget for children and families that will give families more control over the services they receive, including the ability to purchase specialist equipment.

In January, the Secretary of State launched a Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum to identify the outcomes that matter most for children and young people and set out how the new health system will deliver these outcomes. The forum has a group looking specifically at the needs of children with disabilities and those requiring palliative care, and it will be presenting its report to the Secretary of State in July.

One of the high-impact innovations of the NHS chief executive’s review of innovation, Innovation Health and Wealth: Adoption and Diffusion of Innovation, is

the launch of a “Child in a Chair in a day” programme to transform the delivery of wheelchair services throughout the National Health Service. This, together with the introduction of “Any Qualified Provider” in wheelchair services will increase choice and control for patients. Both these initiatives should improve the quality of wheelchair services offered.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

738 cc9-10WA; HL730

Session

2012-13

Subjects

Children Disability aids

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk