Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System (STWICS)
The Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System (STWICS) works closely with partner organisations across the county, including the two local authorities (Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council), the 51 GP practices, the hospitals, and the voluntary and community sector, to plan and deliver joined up health and care services.
Working closely together in a more joined-up way means we can have closer links to our communities and therefore develop more personalised local services, which will improve the lives of our residents and reduce inequalities.
What does this mean for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)?
The ‘Integrated Care Systems: design framework’ sets out how partners within an integrated care system are expected to work together.
Statutory responsibility for SEND sits with STWICS, as do statutory duties of CCGs regarding safeguarding, children in care and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The partnership allows for better outcomes for children and young people with SEND, for a number of reasons, including:
- Statutory services can work together more easily, with more joined up services
- Ability to commission at scale
- Solve common issues together and with people and communities
- Share good practice
- A consistent approach across a larger area, eg in relation to transition and early identification
- More integrated commissioning and delivery
The ICS is working with partners and people to develop a vision and a set of principles for our learning disability and autism programme, which describes what we want to achieve for and with people living with a learning disability, and autistic people living with or without a learning disability across all ages. This is important as it provides focus, sets direction and unites everybody with where we want to get to.
It's planned that this vision will be used as a foundation for the health and social care organisations across the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin system to develop their detailed strategies and plans, where these aren't already in place or need to be updated.
These will:
- Be place based
- Provide specific, separate plans for both learning disabilities and autism
- Provide specific plans for different age groups
- Provide the necessary detail of what will be implemented, how and when
The aim is that people with learning disabilities and/or autism are enabled to have choice and control in being independent, healthy, and safe, with the same opportunities and outcomes in life as others. You can read more about this vision on the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin NHS website.
For more information, please contact:
- Phone: 01952 580300
- Email: stw.generalenquiries@nhs.net