By Local parent brands Access Pathway delay ‘unacceptable’
The Access Pathway is the route for children and young people up to their 18th year, where support has been accessed prior and tested, but further multi-disciplinary discussions may be required. This scheme identifies further intervention or specialist assessments needed.
This includes children and young people with needs such as speech-language, communication, social interaction, learning difficulties, sensory difficulties, and neurodevelopmental difficulties
A local parent, who has remained anonymous, has spoken of their difficulty in receiving the support they need, stating they have been waiting for a significant time.
On their website, NELC has stated the approximate average waiting time from receiving the referral to the panel is 18 weeks.
“As with any service, the length of time it takes us to move through the process is affected by demand and the number of referrals that we receive,” NELC said on the page.
In their statement about the difficulty, the parent said:
“My child’s paperwork was sent about a year ago. I’m fact, the paperwork was approved to go to the panel on 18 July 2021, so almost a year later and we are still no further in any assistance.
“This is coming on the back of 10 years of mismanagement and misdirection of my child and his needs by pretty much everyone that has been involved with him up until he made it to a new school.
“This is, unacceptable that my child and in fact, any child has to go through this at any point but to then have this access pathway debacle drag on for a year with no other outcome than that you agree he needs assessing is upsetting. He’ll be in year 6 and looking at attending a secondary school soon and has nothing in place because of all this.
“He’s been set up to fail by the very departments that should be ensuring he has access to a fair education without discrimination. I hope you can get this matter addressed very soon. Possibly within the next couple of weeks rather than months or years.”
