You told us
Families said it can be confusing to know what counts as a health need linked to special educational needs. It’s not always clear when health advice should be included in an Education Health and Care plan, or what happens to other medical information that doesn’t link directly to education.
Education Health and Care plans can be long and hard to understand, especially for families who aren’t used to medical or education language. Sometimes the medical advice uses jargon or doesn’t clearly explain how it affects the child. It may also not be personal enough to help with planning support.
The problem
From our audits, we learned that the quality of an Education Health and Care plan depends on the quality of the advice that goes into it. A review of medical advice showed that the old medical advice form asked for information that wasn’t always used in the plan. Many boxes were left blank or said “not known”.
The form focused more on development than medical needs, and paediatricians felt they had to include things that other professionals, like therapists, were already covering in their reports.
There was no space to write about a child’s strengths, which made it harder to write a balanced plan. There were also no questions about moving into adult services, which made future planning more difficult.
We listened
We held listening events with parent carers and worked with paediatricians to improve the form. The updated medical advice form is now being used.
It now asks for clear details about diagnoses and health needs, and how these affect the child or young person’s daily life. This helps make the advice more personal and relevant.
There is now space to record strengths, whether the child has a healthcare plan, and if they need help with medication during the school day. It also shows who is responsible for keeping this information up to date.
We’ve added a section about preparing for the future. This helps think ahead to how health needs might affect transitions – like moving from primary to secondary school, or into adult services.
Health provision is now clearly written, outlining which medical teams are involved and what they are providing to meet the health needs.
What happens next
Professionals have started using the new form. We’ll review how it’s working in the winter, once everyone has had time to use it. The Education Health and Care Plan Standards Group will monitor this.
We’re also updating our webpages about Education Health and Care plans. These will include more information about what should be included in the health sections of an Education Health and Care plan.