The regulators for health, education and care found significant weaknesses in the Buckinghamshire area's special education needs and disabilities services after an inspection.

Between February and March, the education and children’s services regulator Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) responsible for health and social care inspected Buckinghamshire services to evaluate how effectively special education needs and disabilities needs were met.  

The inspectors found ‘significant areas of weakness in the area’s practice’.

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First, there was no cohesive area strategy to identify and meet the needs of children and young people, who require speech and language, communication and occupational therapy.

Secondly, too many children and young people are waiting for assessments for a possible diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Also, long waiting times to see a community paediatrician were a problem predating Covid-19.    

Robert Majilton, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Buckinghamshire CQC said: “We are looking what we can do for those families to reduce the waiting times.”

While inspectors said there were robust plans in place and early signs of improvement however “after years where parents and carers have felt they have had to push constantly to get anywhere, it is too soon to see the impact of recent efforts on many families’ confidence and trust.”

Persistent issues with staff recruitment and retention were affecting the services, the Buckinghamshire area health, education and care bosses said.

Richard Nash, corporate director for children’s services for Bucks Council, said: “Retention of staff is a real challenge, and not just in Buckinghamshire Council services but across the surrounding areas, how we recruit and retain staff.

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“It’s been a problem that’s been around and something that has been increasingly difficult to do.”

To show how the area is tackling the significant weaknesses, the bosses have to give a Written Statement of Action to Ofsted by August 8.

Mr Majilton described what is done to try regain the trust of parents and carers: “What we have put in place is pre-diagnostic support.

“It’s support for families and children who are on the waiting list, and clinical teams keep reviewing how they can support families, who haven’t yet had the formal diagnosis, and communications around that are really important.

“We’re looking what we can do for families who are on the waiting list, as we work to reduce that list over time.”

Keeping families updated and communicating with them “on a daily basis” was important for the services, Mr Nash said.

He said: “We know demand is going up, and funding is a real issue.

“But it’s a wider issue. Local authority finance is a well-trodden path in terms of the challenges in that area.

“We have a really positive attitude to problem solving and looking at what we need in the future.”

Simon James, Buckinghamshire Council Service Director for Education, said the Council was working with families to ‘co-produce’ the areas special education needs strategy, which “looks over the next five years what kind of provision is required for our children in Buckinghamshire in terms of the school community.”

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