At this afternoon’s (Wednesday) first Cabinet meeting of the new Isle of Wight council (IWC), members will be considering the case of a boy who was left for months without the support he needed (see Paper below).
As reported last week, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) ruled that the IWC should pay compensation to the family after admitting injustice to the boy who has visual impairments and other medical conditions.
Mr X: “Tip of the Iceberg”
News OnTheWight has been communicating with the father of the boy (who is now 14), who we’ll call Mr X, to hear his view on the outcome of the investigation and the council’s subsequent actions.
Mr X told News OnTheWight,
“We need managers to put children at the heart of the work, to put their long-term futures at the heart of the work rather than failing them up and out of the system.
“We need them to consider the long-term cost to the taxpayer, rather than short term individual department annual budgets.
“No one goes through the council’s complaints process and onto Ombudsman just for their own individual case, there is the hope that there will be real change to make the hours it takes worthwhile.
“Councillors need to realise any case getting as far as the Ombudsman is likely just the tip of an Iceberg of the actual issues encountered.”
Mr X: Timeliness the big issue
He told us that despite the claims from the council that they “get most interactions right”, it has frequently not been the experience of his family and other disabled children on the Island.
Mr X told News OnTheWight,
“Councillors should not draw comfort from the 2019 Ofsted inspection report, when there is a significant cohort of disabled children and their siblings, in my view, being failed by the SEN and the Disabled Children’s teams.”
He went on to say,
“The major issue has been timeliness, so although the LGO recommendations have been belatedly followed, our son now misses out on overnight respite, as his needs have changed as he has got older, and the provision has not kept up those needs. The council are invariably behind by months and years in meeting needs, as they are very slowly reactive rather than creative or proactive.
“In my view, the support required for hospital visits is barely met despite extensive evidence of need to ensure that the visits and operations are successful.”
“Failures” in the service
Running through a long list of what he believed to be failures in the service that his family experienced, Mr X said these included:
- Names of other local children disclosed in letters and reports
- Breaches of recommendations of a Stage 3 complaint on other matters within a year of that report
- Year on year school transport fails children needing escorts to get to school safely
- Covid was used as an excuse for not providing air-conditioning at the respite centre, despite statements by a senior manager to the Tribunal that it was in handled back in March 2019; six weeks would have been ample time to install prior to the summer thereby avoiding the boy’s seizures following respite.
Mr X: “Still a lack of adequate support ”
Mr X says that although there are some unique aspects to their son’s needs, the family’s experience of management of SEN and Children’s Services has been “far from unique”.
Mr X said,
“The measures now taken have not been timely, there is still a lack of adequate support for hospital trips including operations needed to give a chance to maintain a lifetime of sight, currently there is no overnight respite.”
Talk of suicide
It will be shocking for many to hear that the 14-year-old boy has talked of suicide because of the unmet needs. Mr X explained,
“We have a socially isolated son, who talks of suicide because of unmet needs and lack of forward planning into adulthood.”
He also pointed to a comprehensive report based on a three-month residential-based assessment from the charity, Young Epilepsy. Mr X said this should guide health, social and education providers in meeting the needs of his son.
Adding,
“We hope this is not dismissed out of hand, like the previous Great Ormond Street specialist team’s advice.”
Article edit
3.50pm 16th Jun 2021 – Child’s age changed from 8-14 and document embedded
Image: Michal Parzuchowski under CC BY 2.0
