The emphasis on partnership working within the delivery of the HCP is been based on the premise that the best outcomes for children and families often rely on a multi-professional/organisational approach to care and support. This is supported by the evidence from the Collaborative Children’s Workforce showing that there is no single profession or organisation that can ensure the best outcomes for children and families.
As part of the National Health Visiting programme specific pathway work has been undertaken which covers two partnership pathways to strengthen consistent, seamless support and care for children and families. These pathways cover:
Whilst not the only interface between professional groups and services, this project has also identified these as key partnership interfaces in the child and families lives. Additionally, the interface with Children’s Centre’s across these pathways is a fundamental component of delivering an integrated HCP. Therefore the pathways at these interfaces have been developed to ensure continuity of care and service provision. Figure 4 below provides a diagrammatic view of how the pathway provides this.
Throughout the development of the Best Practice Pathways the workstreams involved in the project have been clear that the focus is on “What should be done” not what is currently being delivered within the individual provider areas. To this end they have focused on:
From this basis the Best Practice Pathways section of the product has delivered the following key areas:
The identification of the specific pathways required to meet the varying needs of children and families reflecting the 3 key components of the HCP model; Universal, Universal Plus, Universal Partnership Plus. Within this work it has been essential that the service offer is described at Universal, Universal Plus and Universal Partnership Plus at the lowest or most specific level possible to reflect the particular needs of the child/family.
In order to achieve this, the project group has developed:
Having identified the above pathways the range of services/interventions appropriate within each pathway has been mapped according to:
Note: Within each of the pathway ages and stages, identified above, work has also been undertaken to identify where current Key Performance Indicators (KPI’S) are available and areas where additional KPI’s have been recommended (see Outcomes & Key Performance Indicators section for further detail).
Each specific pathway builds on, and is additional to, the contents of the universal pathway. The remaining eight pathways have been specifically designed from the themes outlines within the HCP.
It is important to recognise that children’s centres have been commissioned to deliver against a nationally agreed core purpose (see below). In addition there is a clear requirement that the development of services or partnerships within an individual Children’s Centre should be driven by the needs of the local population they serve. Therefore, whilst the following pathways provide a clear indication of the services that are evidence based, the extent to which they are available within a local children’s centre will be dictated by the needs of the local population.
Implicit within the above is the expectation that, in addition to the provision of services, Children’s centres will provide a local focus and facilities for the delivery of both multi-professional and uni-professional services.
In order to ensure this core purpose is reflected within the pathways all reference to services or interventions related to Children’s centres are followed by a reference back to the above core purpose (i.e. 1, 2 or 3).
It is important that an integrated system of delivery is supported by a consistent and comprehensive means of identifying the needs of children and families.
The following broad assessment framework follows the ‘Framework for Children in need Assessment Triangle Model’ (DH 2000) and is provided as a guide to the areas for consideration when assessing the needs of children and families.
The three bands within the assessment tool are intended to provide the practitioner with an indication of the level of service, Universal, Universal Plus or Universal Partnership Plus, likely to be required to support the individual child or family.
It should be stressed that the final decision regarding the type and level of intervention required rests with the practitioner using up-to-date information and professional judgement.