Only one in 10 health assessments for children in care in Nottinghamshire completed on time

Rules state 90 per cent of Initial Health Assessments must be completed within 20 working days of a child entering care.

However, the county corporate parenting panel heard that in Nottinghamshire, health providers and the council are managing to hit the target in just 10 per cent of cases.

Katherine Browne, Nottinghamshire Council senior public health and commissioning manager, said there are delays in social care making referrals to the medical provider to complete the assessment.

Council papers say there is “insufficient capacity to meet the demand across some of the health teams”.

Ms Browne said: “Our performance around IHAs does need that real partnership input into improving our timeliness.

“When a young person comes into care, social care is required to refer to a medical provider to ensure an Initial Health Assessment is undertaken. That needs to be completed within 20 days.

“Locally we have an agreed timeframe that social care will refer to the health provider within five days. At the moment, only 10 per cent of our children and young people do receive that initial health assessment within the timescale.

“The factors influencing that are the timeliness of referrals. In the last quarter, about 40 per cent of our referrals went to the health provider within the five days.

“Our health providers have some challenges in terms of capacity within their teams.

“The Integrated Care Board is committed to working to drive improvements. They have convened workshops to understand the root cause. This is a priority within the ICB.”

Council documents stated: “Most children and young people become looked after because of abuse and neglect.

“Although they have many of the same health needs as their peers, they may also have additional health care needs and the extent of these is often greater because of the impact of their past adverse experiences.

“They are also more likely to have not been taken to health appointments or screenings, or supported with medication.”

Other factors for delays in assessments include sickness and vacancy rates within health teams, incomplete referrals and young people not attending appointments.