Children and Young People Continuing Care
What is Children and Young People’s Continuing Care?
Continuing care is a package of support which is required by a child or young person (up to their 18th birthday) who have needs arising from a disability, accident or illness which cannot be met by existing universal or specialist services alone. Where a child or young person’s needs can be met by existing universal or specialist services, continuing care is not required.
The National Framework for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care supports CCGs to determine if a child’s needs require a package of continuing care. Continuing care is led by CCGs and takes a holistic assessment, inclusive of the Local Authority and Education, of the child or young person’s needs. The framework covers children and young people up to their 18th birthday.
Following this, the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare, NHS Funded Nursing Care and any supporting guidance and tools should be used.
There are differences between Children and Young People’s Continuing Care and NHS Continuing Healthcare for adults. A child or young person may be eligible for, and in receipt of a package of continuing care, however, they may not be eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare or NHS Funded Nursing Care when they turn 18.
Who is Eligible for Continuing Care?
Some children and young people may be able to access continuing care as they have very complex health needs, because of congenital conditions, long-term, life-limiting, or life-threatening conditions, disability or the after-effects of a serious illness or injury.
Their needs may be so complex, that they cannot be met by the services which are routinely available from GP practices, hospitals or in the community commissioned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) or NHS England, and a package of additional health support may be needed. This additional package of care has come to be known as continuing care.
Making a Referral
The child or young person who is referred to the Children and Young People Continuing Care team (CYPCCT), should be registered with a GP who is a member of Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group.
A child or young person, their family, health or social care professional can make a referral to the Children and Young People Continuing Care team.
The referral form needs to be emailed to the team at: hvccg.cypcc@nhs.net.
If you need support on how to complete the referral form, there is guidance to help.
Once a referral is received by the Children and Young People Continuing Care team (CYPCCT), the Lead Nurse will assess this, and the decision will be made about whether a full assessment will need to be completed. Where possible, this will be a joint assessment with the local authority and education.
If you need further assistance and would like to speak to one of the Children and Young People Continuing Care team (CYPCCT), please call on: 01442 284105.
For professionals wanting more information, including how to make a referral to the Children and Young People Continuing Care team a leaflet for professionals has been produced.
How is Eligibility for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care Decided?
To determine eligibility for continuing care for children and young people (up to their 18th birthday), a structured assessment is completed, which follows the guidance of the National Framework for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care, originally published by the Department of Health in 2010.
The Lead Nurse from the Children and Young People Continuing Care team will work closely with children’s social care, and at times a joint package of care is provided to make sure that needs are met holistically. The assessment follows national guidance and criteria and will determine whether the child or young person is eligible for continuing care. If your assessment does not identify that you are eligible for continuing care, you will be signposted to existing universal or specialist services.
The child, young person and their family will be informed and involved throughout the process, and if you wish, you can ask a member of your family, a friend, carer or another representative to support you during this assessment process.
As part of the referral process a ‘checklist’ screening tool can be completed, this will help the Lead Nurse to decide if a full assessment should be completed, this is known as a Decision Support Tool (DST). The DST will be used to collate information about your health, care, and educational needs, and will support the recommendations regarding eligibility. In the cases where an urgent decision is required, this process can be ‘fast tracked’ to provide timely continuing care.
If you are eligible, a package of care will be jointly funded between Herts Valleys CCG, the local authority and education. The package of care will be discussed and agreed with you and your family, or representative.
Care and Support Planning
If the child or young person is eligible for continuing care, a care and support plan will be identified and agreed with the child or young person and their family, and a package of care will be arranged which will meet their assessed needs. This package may be joint funded between Herts Valleys CCG and the local authority.
Review
Funding is subject to a regular review and if your needs change, funding arrangements may also change.
If the child or young person is eligible for continuing care, your needs and support package will be reviewed within three months of the package starting, and after this at least once a year, or if there are any significant changes to the child or young person’s needs.
The review will consider whether your existing support package meets your assessed needs, if your needs have changed, and will consider whether you are still eligible for continuing care.
Further information and links
To find out more about Children and Young People’s Continuing Care, contact the Children and Young People Continuing Care team on:
Telephone: 01442 284105
Email: hvccg.cypcc@nhs.net
If you telephone outside office hours or if the line is engaged, we encourage you to leave a voicemail message with your contact details. A member of our team can get in touch with you as soon as they become free.
More information including the National Framework for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care can be found by going to the Department of Health website.
Please see the leaflet titled ‘A brief guide for children/young people and their families’, which can provide further information for children or young people and their families.
The Hertfordshire Local Offer website provides information on services and support for a child or young person with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), this is an easily accessible one stop shop.
Child/Young Person and Family Experience
As part of our wish to continuously develop and improve the Children and Young People Continuing Care Service, we would like to engage with children or young people and their families.
Please contact us to share your experience on the service and to confirm that you would like to be involved in future engagement, to support us to develop and improve the service.