Statement by DoH Permanent Secretary Mike Farrar
Date published:
Statement by DoH Permanent Secretary Mike Farrar following the Education Authority’s decision to close down summer schools for children with special educational needs.
Today’s decision by the Education Authority (EA) to close down the SEN summer schools is highly regrettable.
SEN summer schools have been running successfully and safely in Northern Ireland for several years with nursing support which did not include onsite nursing presence in all sites. Of the full cohort of children attending special schools (around 7,500), around 1,500 are identified as requiring additional support for complex healthcare needs.
Based on clinical advice, the safe delivery of these summer schemes does not require onsite registered nursing provision in all sites. We have advised that in previous years the CCNs (community children’s nurses) provided additional training and support to classroom assistants who work on the summer schemes and we have offered to provide that at an enhanced level. The CCNs provide healthcare support to children with complex healthcare needs within the community including those requiring palliative care as well as providing support to children attending SEN schools.
To meet the expectation to have a registered nurse from the CCN team onsite in every special school to support the summer scheme, when we know that around 80% of the children who attend SEN schools do not have complex healthcare needs requiring CCN intervention, would mean taking nurses away from the provision of frontline clinical care.
The cancellation of these schemes will also directly lead to pressure on already stretched respite services for a significant number of these children who have very complex needs and we fully acknowledge and appreciate the concerns that families will understandably have.
We remain committed to supporting schools to address the health needs of children with special educational needs and work is ongoing to consider the best model for nursing provision in special schools.
We will make every effort to ensure that alternative support can be put in place to lessen the impact of the EA decision.