The Scottish Government

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Listen

A Scottish Executive Review of Speech and Language Therapy, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy for Children and Speech and Language Therapy for Adults with Learning Disabilities and Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Foreword

We are very pleased to announce the publication of this report.

We are grateful to the members of the review working group and the consultancy team from Queen Margaret University College who conducted the research, for producing this important document.

Many of the report's recommendations on children's services build on those contained in recent reports such as For Scotland's Children, which highlights the importance of integrated working across education, health and social work, and promotes effective joint working across agencies. This is consistent with the Executive's commitment to supporting an inclusive approach to education and to developing the New Community School approach to joint working. Community Care: a Joint Future also emphasises the importance of joint working with the older population relevant to the part of the review that looked at adults.

The report highlights issues of concern to professionals in health, education and social care, as well as to parents and to adults with learning difficulties. Our health White Paper, Partnership for Care, has since clarified the mechanisms for joint decisions on community care - involving NHS Boards and local authorities as partners at the heart of integrated local care through new Community Health Partnerships. Working in partnership with these mechanisms, other agencies and bodies like the new National Workforce Committee, emerging regional structures and NHS Education for Scotland will help determine supply of, and demand for, therapists, workforce planning, management and organisation of services and funding. We believe that many of these concerns are being addressed in the substantial progress already made through the national action plan for the Allied Health Professions (AHPs), Building on Success - Future Directions - since its publication almost exactly a year ago.

Future Directions stresses the unique nature of each of the nine constituent professions within the AHP community, which includes Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists - but it also addresses common issues affecting all practitioners regardless of speciality. We are providing resources aimed at improving recruitment and retention, and we are providing additional AHP student places. In addition, a number of key groups have been set up to work with existing AHP groups, NHSScotland, the higher education sector and the people of Scotland to ensure progress is made across the board. Specifically, a Ministerial Implementation Group (MIG) will be overseeing the implementation of Future Directions. Five short-life working groups covering Research and Development, Clinical Placements, Staff Governance, Careers Information, and Recruitment and Retention will report to the MIG.

Of course, this report is not just about services for children. In May 2000 the Learning Disabilities Review, The same as you? reported that adults with learning disabilities requiring speech and language therapy were finding difficulty in accessing services. We therefore agreed to extend the scope of the review to include adult speech and language therapy services. And we expect our main recommendations on these - access to services; involvement of adults with learning disabilities and their families in planning, delivery and evaluation of services - to be taken forward through the Partnership in Practice agreements being developed between local authorities and NHSScotland.

Overall, the report sets out 28 recommendations. Clear, specific actions will be required to ensure these are addressed, within the context set out in this foreword. To ensure publication of the report within a reasonable timescale, a selection of views were sought reflecting the diversity of these services in Scotland. But there is a need to be properly inclusive so that all interests are fully represented. So, in publishing this report, we welcome comments from recipients by
Friday, 31 October 2003. Thereafter, we will publish a full response to the report.

August 2003

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