The outgoing Communication Champion has cautioned that cuts to speech and language services and new commissioning procedures could cause greater hardship for children with communication needs.
In a report issued to coincide with the end of the National Year of Communication, Jean Gross argues that the Health and Social Care Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament, should be amended to make joint commissioning of children’s community health services compulsory to improve services for those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
Mrs Gross is critical of plans to allow GP consortia to control commissioning, saying that she has “met no-one outside government who believe that commissioning by clinical commissioning groups led by GPs will change the fundamental problems. All say it will make it worse.”
The report, Two Years On: final report of the Communication Champion for children, highlights the problems of cuts to NHS and local authority budgets at a time when the numbers of children with SLCN is growing rapidly – there has been a 58 per cent increase over the last five years in the number of school-age children reported as having SLCN as their primary special need.
Mrs Gross puts forward 30 major recommendations which address a number of key issues, including ensuring effective early intervention for SLCN, tackling uneven application of joint commissioning across the country, raising awareness of SLCN, addressing gaps in services for children with SLCN and providing additional support for teachers.
The report praises local authorities that have successfully implemented “community-wide strategies to promote improved communication skills for all children”.
To download a copy of the report, visit:
www.thecommunicationcouncil.org
