Factsheet 1:
Continuing Care for Childrenand Young People; anintroduction
Children and Young People’s Continuing Care: Factsheet 1
What is Continuing Care for children and young people?
Continuing Care is the name given to care for children and young peoplewith needs that cannot be met by existing services in their community.
This could be as a result of a disability, accident or illness, but does not include children and young people whose needs can be supported by services such associal care, direct payments, children’s community nursing teams and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and therapy services.
The National Framework for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care (2010) sets out how children and young people eligible for Continuing Care should be supported.
The Framework is clear that the needs of children and young people are best met using a joined up approach between health, social care and education. This allows those with Continuing Care needs to live an ordinary life.
What types of continuing care are there?
Continuing care can take place during the day time and/or overnight and can be provided in a child’s or young person’s home or even in another setting.
When a child or young person’s needs are assesseda number of options will be looked at to ensure that all care provided will meet their needs.
Resources required can vary depending on a child’s needs. These could include specialist equipment, housing adaptations and home tuition. It may even be that additional skilled staff are required to enable the child to access academic studies or social and leisure activities.
Who can receive Continuing Care?
A ‘Decision Support Tool’ is used to assess whether or not a child or young person is eligible for Continuing Care. The tool is used because it is not possible to assess need with diagnosis of a particular disease or condition alone. Although the needs of some children and their carers may appear similar, circumstances can vary significantly, for example support from family and friends will not be the same for each child or young person.
How do I arrange an assessment and how does this happen?
Any parent/carer can request that a child or young person is assessed for Continuing Care. The first point of contact should be with the child or young person’s lead professional.
A lead professional is someone who takes the lead to co-ordinate care provision when a range of services are involved with the child or family. In many cases this is the social worker but can also be another professional who is involved.
A lead professionalcan make a referral to the Children’s Complex Care Specialist Nurse. This process is described in more depth in ‘Factsheet2: Continuing Care Commissioning Panel’.
Following assessment a recommendation will be made as to whether a child or young person has continuing care needs that cannot be met by existing (these could be specialist) services alone. If a child or young person is deemed to be in need of additional support through Continuing Care a package of support specific to the child or young person’s needs and inclusive of funding will be put in place.
Children and Young People’s Continuing Care: Factsheet 1