Buckinghamshire Therapies Strategy 2023 to 2026 consultation

• Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) supports children and young people to develop effective speech, language, and social communication skills. It also works with children and young people who have problems eating or drinking. 
• Occupational Therapy (OT) works with children and young people who have ‘functional difficulties’ or a physical and / or learning disability which impacts upon their daily participation in activities. This means their ability to learn and develop, socialise and play may be compromised.
• Physiotherapy (PT) supports children and young people who have difficulty with movement and treat short and long-term conditions that impact on physical development, activity, and their ability to participate in play, learning and socialising.

For more information, please see the draft Buckinghamshire Therapies Strategy 2023 to 2026 (PDF 0.42MB).

Our draft vision for children and young people’s therapy needs is:

• To enable Buckinghamshire children and young people with therapy needs to live full, happy and healthy lives
• To support children to develop the skills they need to access education and to take part in daily living activities. This will enable children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to realise their full potential

We will achieve this vision through the following draft priorities:

• Boosting support available within community and universal settings
• Ensuring early identification of therapy support or provision needs
• Ensuring that the right support is in place at the right time and in an accessible location

These priorities have been developed using best practice guidance and co-production with key stakeholders. The 3 priorities are equally important.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out a Local Area Inspection in March 2022. The outcome of the inspection emphasised the need for a single Therapies Strategy for Buckinghamshire.

Timely therapy support enables children and young people with SEND to take as full and active part in their daily routines as they are able. This means that wherever possible children and young people can develop, thrive and reach their full potential.

Lack of effective therapy support at the right time and in the right place, can lead to a negative impact on:

• educational attainment
• employment
• social mobility
• mental health
• involvement with the justice system

These then can have negative effects on longer-term health and wellbeing.

We are facing national and local challenges to therapy provision, such as a national shortage of therapists and increasing demand in Buckinghamshire.

The strategy aims to mitigate the impact of the national shortage of therapists on children and young people living in Buckinghamshire.

We have worked with key partners to shape the priority actions and outcomes set out in the draft Therapies Strategy.

A workshop was held on 25 May 2022 with key stakeholders to collectively shape the vision for therapy support and provision in Buckinghamshire.

In June 2022, key stakeholders were invited to provide initial feedback on the draft strategy. This included feedback from:

• Schools
• Children’s Education Service
• Children’s Social Care
• Specialist Teachers
• FACT Bucks
• Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust
• Oxford Health Foundation Trust
• Buckinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group
• Public Health
• Integrated Commissioning

Young people, parents and carers provided feedback at the Shout Out for SEND conference in October 2021. This was fed into the development of the draft strategy.

To help ensure this strategy meets the therapy needs of children and young people, we need to hear from a range of people, including:

• Parent / carers of children or young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
• Children and young people with SEND
• Education setting employees (e.g. early years, schools, colleges etc.)
• Professionals working with children and young people with SEND
• Professionals working in an Early Help role (e.g. family support worker, within health visiting or school nursing etc.)
• Speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists
• Groups and organisations working with children and young people with SEND

We are running two online events with FACT Bucks for parents or carers to hear about the strategy and share their views. These will be held on Microsoft Teams and you will need to book to attend via Eventbrite.

• Wednesday 7 December, from 7pm to 8pm
• Friday 9 December, from 10am to 11am

We are running a feedback group for children and young people to share their thoughts and suggestions between November 2022 and January 2023. 

We want to hear children and young people’s experiences and views on the therapy services they access. This will help us understand what we need to improve and how we can offer better support.

If you, your child, or a child / young person you work with would like to join our feedback group or feedback individually, please contact us at preventioncommissioning@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

We will then contact you with further details of the feedback group or 1:1 sessions.