Children’s services: Education and health fail on integrated working

Education, health and private sector professionals are not engaging enough with integrated working practices, according to a Children’s Workforce Development Council report.

A third of people implementing integrated services at a local area level have encountered difficulties engaging teachers and health professionals, the report found.

Health workers cited constraints including the reorganisation of the NHS and cuts to children’s health services funding while teachers’ difficulties included a lack of awareness of the Every Child Matter agenda and a lack of capacity to attend meetings and training.

The report on the views of 800 people including parents and children also found that early years staff from the private sector were “particularly out of the loop” in integrated working practices. Nearly all private sector staff surveyed “had never heard of” the common assessment framework or lead professsional.

More information

Moving Towards Integrated Working – CWDC progress report

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