School Health and Wellbeing Service

The School Health & Wellbeing Service has been delivered by Compass since the award of the current contract in November 2015. The service has undergone significant transformation following a consultation and needs assessment exercise undertaken during 2014.

We wanted to consult on the current model of service delivery to inform the re-commissioning process that will commence in 2019 in order to have a new contract in place when the current contract comes to an end on the 31st October 2019. We sought views from the public, professionals and partners on the services provided through the School Health & Wellbeing Service to ensure they are fit for purpose, good quality and meeting the needs of children and families in Warwickshire.

The consultation for the Warwickshire School Health & Wellbeing Service took place between 3rd September and 12th October 2018. An online questionnaire survey and structured interviews were conducted with a range of key stakeholders, including an online parent forum via the Facebook group (Hearing the Voices of Families in Warwickshire).

The online questionnaire survey received 201 responses. The structured interviews and online forum gained the views from 21 parents/carers, teaching professionals and partners.

Online questionnaire feedback:

• The majority of respondents (72%) were parents/carers and 14% were teachers/head teachers
• 63% of parents/carers were unaware of the Health Needs Assessment process and 72% were unaware of the Chathealth service
• 41% of parents/carers felt they didn’t have a need for 1:1 support at the moment, 47% were unaware they could get 1:1 support
• When the service offers have been accessed, the majority of respondents find the service useful or very useful
• The majority of respondents (73%) felt the priorities for the service are just right, 16% felt there were not enough, 6% felt there were too many and 5% did not respond to this question
• A total of 52 respondents (26%) chose to leave comments or suggestions regarding the service and its priorities.

The key themes included:

• Lack of awareness of what the service offers and the need to improve communications
• The service needs to be more visible in schools
• Children and families like the service and the staff when they are accessing support
• All of the priorities are very important, in particular mental health
• Where the SHWBS is either unable to provide support as it is not appropriate, or they need to refer on for further support, parents/carers and teachers feel there are gaps within other services available to offer the required support
• There aren’t enough staff to do the job.

Structured interviews and online forum feedback:

• A clear message from both parents/carers and teachers/head teachers was that they don’t know enough about what the service can do for them and they recommended undertaking more pro-active communication
• Some schools feel the service is not as visible within the school as they would like. The service should explore how to better promote when there is a planned school visit and include a discussion on this when developing the annual health & wellbeing plan
• Respondents felt the service should have more investment in order that schools can have more access to the service on site
• Where the service is being used, the feedback is mainly positive, with particular mention of the referral process and the training offer.

• The consultation has been integrated into the School Age Needs Assessment 2018
• The findings will be incorporated into the Service Specification for the new service to be implemented by 1st November 2019