‘Special medical care is satisfactory’

Two-thirds of local education authorities offer pupils with special
medical needs satisfactory provision, says a report from the Office
for Standards in Education.

The report says that in the best cases this includes adolescent
psychiatric units, home tuition service, hospital special units or
schools and hospital teaching.

However, the report also found that there were too few
opportunities for pupils to work together in group settings in a
third of LEAs. In some LEAs, pupils with medical needs were taught
alongside children with emotional, behavioural and social
difficulties but this was not always appropriate for pupils with
physical or mental health illnesses.

The report recommends that in order to improve provision for pupils
with medical needs, LEAs need to work closer with social services
and health. Education providers should also liaise with the LEA,
school and other agencies to create personal educational
plans.

The report was based on an inspection of 50 education providers in
12 local education authorities between September 2002 and March
2003. 

– The Education of Pupils with Medical Needs available
from www.ofsted.gov.uk