Hertfordshire Local Area Partnership’s SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) Improvement Plan developed with NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB, has outlined plans to develop a data dashboard to promote shared understanding of SEND provision and quality in the Hertfordshire region.
The plan builds upon a strategy running until 2025 that outlines the need to tailor, plan and deliver services to meet individual needs. To achieve this, the Improvement Plan notes the need to act “with urgency” on the development of a data dashboard to provide insights on current provision for SEND in Hertfordshire and its quality, so that activity can be targeted to where it is needed most. Key milestones include the co-production of a prototype dashboard to be presented to the partnership and assurance board; using the journey of children and young people to map the data needed for the dashboard to identify any gaps; and putting in place a “robust data insight development plan” to review progress.
It aims to support improvements and measure outcomes, using data from children and young people’s experiences and intervening where outcomes are poor, and accelerating the use of new systems that improve reporting. Responsibility for the development of new systems is given jointly to the head of intelligence resources and the head of digital and systems delivery for children’s services, and the plan highlights steps to achieving this including the adoption of Power BI for SEND and inclusion reporting, which will enable professionals across the partnership to “routinely access data and intelligence to support them to make evidence-based decisions about improvements and target their work where it is most needed”.
The plan also emphasises the need to establish and communicate the new partnership programme management approach, setting “clear and measurable targets”, using the performance dashboard to identify priorities, and carrying out regular scrutiny of information gathered through the quality assurance and audit programme.
Dr Jane Halpin, chief executive of NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB, said: “Patients are at the heart of everything we do in the NHS and we always want to ensure the best quality care and support. This includes ensuring we are doing everything we can do to support living an ordinary life for children and young people with SEND. Our joint partnership improvement plan demonstrates our commitment to deliver a further significant shift in the way children and young people who have additional needs are supported.”
To read the Hertfordshire SEND Improvement Plan in full, please click here.
Elsewhere on digital and data, the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre has launched a new digital strategy, emphasising digital foundations, patient and staff empowerment, and better use of data.
Also, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has announced that it is part of a consortium of six leading European children’s hospitals, who will be working together to advance research on children’s health, collaborating on data management to develop new therapies for children and support new technologies such as AI in healthcare for children.
