In 2022, Tameside Integrated Care Partnership commissioned ‘Our Kids Eyes’ (OKE) – a registered parent-led charity, to set-up and deliver a Health Navigator Service to provide early support to families awaiting diagnosis on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) health pathways. The Health Navigator Service was designed to offer a single point of contact for families which would be available seven days a week. The Health Navigator Service soon expanded beyond a focus on health, responding to need by helping families to navigate and understand the wider SEND system, offering support, advice and running workshops in response to parents’ calls for support.
The service has supported 1,800 families since July 2022, it provides support seven days a week and families can access support via email, phone and social media. The feedback from families and professionals since the Health Navigator Service launched has been positive. Parents report increased confidence, awareness, understanding and knowledge of SEND services, and professionals report receiving fewer duty calls, freeing up time for clinical activity. The work has secured longer term funding through investment from Greater Manchester Integrated Care for a wider Neurodiversity Hub in all ten areas of Greater Manchester and will continue under a new provider in Tameside.
The Health Navigator Service set out to achieve three main aims:
- Improve pre-diagnostic and post-diagnostic support, advice and information.
- Help families navigate the SEND system.
- Connect families better to the Local Offer and peer support.
The SEND Effective Practice Evidence Framework considers that the “strength of evidence” of this case study is promising – the model has been sustained for four years, is embedded in the local system, and has been internally evaluated with evidence of service-level impact. The “breadth of impact” of this case study is promising – there is evidence of impact in two of the four impact areas considered by the Framework[1].
[1] The SEND Effective Practice Evidence Framework uses two “signal strength” indicators to present the strength of evidence and the breadth of impact of a case study. Each indicator has four bars – emerging, promising, good and robust. The “strength of evidence” indicator is based on how the project has been evaluated and the length of time it has been sustained. The “breadth of impact” indicator is based on whether the case study can demonstrate impact in four broad areas – the more areas of impact, the higher the signal strength indicator.