Halton Family Voice Meeting
24th February 2015
Halton Lodge Children’s Centre
(Actions are in Bold)
1. Present
Susan Lever
Steven Lever
Julie Sumner
Laura Berry
Chloe Buglass
Norman Beatty
Julie Karmy
Tracy Ryan
2. Apologies
Gemma McLoughlin
Nicola Bellfield
3. Minutes from last meeting
The minutes from the previous meeting were read through and confirmed as an accurate
record.
News on Michelle’s Baby – Michelle had her baby girl at the weekend and both are
doing well. The group sends all best wishes to Michelle and her family.
4. SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) Local Offer – Tracy Ryan
Tracy Ryan, Lead Officer for the Halton SEND Local Offer, talked to the group about her
role and shared copies of the SEND Local Offer Action Plan (a copy is attached to the
minutes). HFV members discussed their experiences of the SEND Reforms to date and
Tracy was able to clarify some of the issues raised.
Tracy explained that the Local Offer website had to be completed by September 2014 as
this was required by the Government – however, the website will change in the future as
families have more input and provide feedback. Tracy is setting up a group made up of
parents, carers, children, young people and professionals to look at the website and make
it better and more user-friendly, and is asking for volunteers to join the group.
Tracy also talked about having Ambassadors for the SEND Local Offer in local groups and
organisations and explained about the Ambassador role.
Tracy was invited to the next ImPART group meeting on 3rd March to discuss the Local
Offer website group and the Ambassador role.
The following areas of the Local Offer Action Plan were discussed:
Membership of the SEND Local Offer Group
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Young Carers – Tracy will be meeting Sarah Warren
Tracy has contacted Riverside College (Kath Mannion and Jane Baker)
Des Chow will represent Health
Sharon Spruce will represent Halton SEND Partnership
Tracy is attending Halton’s Voluntary Sector Forum tomorrow to ask for a
representative
EHC Plan Supporting Documentation and Guidance
 Tracy is working on the Parental Voice documents with Special Educational Needs
colleagues
Facebook and Twitter
 Halton SEND Local Offer Facebook and Twitter Accounts have been set up
Review, Streamline, Update and Ongoing Maintenance
 The first 4 bullet points are actions to be done in partnership with the group to
make improvements
 The next set of bullet points are actions for Tracy to make things clearer
Publicity Material/Raising Awareness/ Participation/Feedback
 Tracy provided promotional keyrings and backpacks for the group to take away
with them to publicise the Local Offer
 A new leaflet will be developed by the group
 Des Chow and the SPARC group have developed comic books to explain the
Local Offer from Health’s point of view
 The ‘Taking Stock’ session will be a workshop asking ‘what do we think of it so
far?’
Preparing for Adulthood
 Sessions will be held with businesses
Improve links with Adult Services
 Working more closely with Adult services
Professionals Flowchart
 This will be added
Final 4 sections on Page 5
 Tracy has pulled these together from feedback and working with others
Feedback from the group:
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Chloe asked if she could join the Local Offer Group even though her children do
not have SEN? Tracy answered – yes, we value ideas from everyone who has or
cares for children and young people
When would be a good time to hold the new group? Group members said that
some parents/carers struggle with evening meetings. The suggestion was to hold
meetings during the day with catch-up meetings in the evenings for parents who
could not attend the daytime meetings
The number of meetings was discussed – it was suggested that ImPART would
have one representative for HFV and another for Tracy’s group, as the
responsibility would not fall to just one person
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Tracy will bring a laptop to groups and meetings to show people the Local Offer
website – it is also mobile-friendly
Tracy talked about the link for parents/carers to give feedback, near the bottom of
the page on the website, and also about feeding back on Twitter and Facebook
The group thanked Tracy for attending the meeting and for all the information she
provided.
5. Update on Youth Provision contracts
Chloe was part of the interview panel for the youth provision contracts and fed back to the
group. She said that she found the experience to be interesting and insightful. Chloe was
not able to tell the group which organisation had been awarded the contract as the
process had not been finalised at that point.
** The successful organisation has now been announced as Young Addaction.
6. Changes to Emotional Health / Counselling Services for Children and Young People
Julie talked to the group about changes to emotional health and wellbeing services for
children and young people in Halton. From 31st March 2015 the Hear4u counselling
service delivered by Barnardo’s will close. A new Emotional Health and Wellbeing service
commissioned by the Clinical Commissioning Group will start on 1st June 2015, which
means there will be a gap in service. During this gap from April to June, referrals for
children and young people where there are concerns about their emotional health will go
to CART (Contact and Referral Team – 0151 907 8305) in the Council and support
provided. Schools have been informed about this.
The group was concerned about the loss of the Hear4u service which is well regarded in
the community. Steven talked about his involvement in Nightstop, a Widnes-based
organization funded by the National Lottery that offers counselling for young people from
14–25 years. Steven informed the group that individuals can self-refer or be referred by
key workers/practitioners and that referrals can be via the website or through calling in.
The group discussed a range of emotional health issues that affect children and young
people, including self-harm. The inconsistency in the response to self-harm from different
schools and other organisations was highlighted and the group agreed that more training
should be provided. Homophobic bullying was also discussed and it was agreed to ask
Phil McClure to attend the next meeting to talk about a campaign the Youth Cabinet is
involved in.
7. Future Guests / Speakers
Laura updated the group on local health issues in her role as the Parent Representative
for the Clinical Commissioning Group, attending Halton People’s Health Forum.
Laura provided the group with information on Care at the Chemist, which is a national
scheme although it may not include all chemists/pharmacies. The aim is that people can
make an appointment at their local chemist/pharmacy for consultations about minor
ailments without the need to see their GP. The chemist/pharmacist can provide advice
and prescribe medicine as long as it is on the approved list. Children and young people
up to 16 years and people over 16 who are eligible for free prescriptions will not pay for
medicines prescribed by the chemist/pharmacist.
Laura also talked about the Urgent Care Centre in Runcorn, which is near the minor
injuries department in Halton Hospital. The Centre is up and running but is waiting for an
X-ray machine.
Laura asked for feedback on the Widnes Walk-in Centre – the group agreed that the
physiotherapy there is good.
The group suggested that Laura should provide feedback on Health events and
developments as a standing item on the agenda each month. Laura suggested that she
and Des Chow could present an update at the next meeting, which was agreed by the
group.
The speakers/guests for the next meetings were suggested as:
March:
 Des Chow and Laura Berry – Health Updates
 Phil McClure – School Uniform Costs/Grants Available and Update on Homophobic
Bullying Campaign
Future Meetings:
 Nightstop
 CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau) – Workshop
 ImPART
8. AOB
None raised.
Next meeting:
24th March – Kingsway Learning Centre – 10.00am-12.00pm