Bedfordshire and Luton Community Paediatrics waiting times

We want you to know we are truly sorry for how long you have been waiting, and are committed to changing things. Over the last three years, we've seen referrals to our service increase. There are lots of reasons for this, including a growing population, a greater awareness of neurodiversity, and the changing needs of children since the COVID-19 pandemic. Recruiting more doctors isn't an option, as there is a shortage of specialist doctors across the country. As a result, we've seen our waiting list grow. We know it can be hard for families waiting for answers.

To find solutions, we have been meeting regularly with our local Parent Carer Forums and other health partners. This has led to us creating new resources like the Neurodiversity Support Pack and the annual SEND Health Focus Week events. We also have a set of workshops to watch online, on topics like sleep and behaviour, sensory challenges, and meal times. For those just joining the waiting list, we have special face-to-face workshops. We have grown the team by creating new roles to support families, including specialist nurses and an Early Intervention Team. Our Early Intervention Team can be called on for advice on things like sleep or behaviour.

We have also been working closely with change experts and the people who pay for our services, to see what we can do differently. We know the importance of supporting your child's needs as early as possible. Your child should get the support they need at school or at home, even if they haven't seen a specialist doctor or even had an assessment. Support should be based on what they need help with in their daily lives rather than based on a diagnosis. But we do understand that a diagnosis can be important to families for many other reasons.

Having looked at how services are run in other parts of the country, we're trialing a new approach to support the families of Bedfordshire and Luton. This new approach is called the Early Concerns Neurodiversity Pathway, and it's led by a new Early Concerns Neurodiversity Team. The team includes specialists in health and education who will help identify children's needs in pre-schools, schools, and colleges. Where there are concerns about a child, the team will support schools and families, helping them to put in place strategies to support the child's wellbeing and development at the earliest point. This will be a collaborative, supportive, evidence-based, and needs-led approach. We believe it can go a long way to making children and young people's daily experiences better.

And the team will be working with a small number of schools at first. Children already on the waiting list will be offered the Early Concerns Assessment and families will be given strategies to help them. 

If these strategies are unsuccessful, the Early Concerns Team will be able to help that child access a specialist diagnostic assessment.

Hi, my name is Ruqsana. I’m one of the Co-Directors working for EPIC Luton, the Parent Carer Forum. We continually listen to the lived experiences of our parent carers and feedback on the trends to Bedfordshire Community Health Services. We want to work in a solution-focused way to improve our local SEND services. We can see the need to trial a different model.

We will monitor the trial’s progress and make sure feedback from families is taken into account. Thank you for listening and please do have a look at our website or the local authority local offer for more information and resources.