In a response to a Parliamentary Question asked by Mark Harper MP, Shadow Minister for Disabled People, about the amount of funding PCTs have received for disabled children’s services, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw has said:

‘All PCTs will receive an above inflation cash increase of 5.5%, a total cash increase of £3.8 billion. The funding for services to support disabled children forms part of this allocation’.

ACT, ACH, Every Disabled Child Matters and Whizz-Kidz have now written to all MPS asking them to sign an Early Day Motion (EDM 1427) which calls on the government to provide specific information on the funding allocations made to PCT's to support short breaks, palliative care, community equipment and wheelchair services for disabled children.

We have reminded MPs that following the publication of the “Aiming High for Disabled Children”’ review, the NHS Operating Framework for 2008-9 establishes disabled children as one of four local priority groups for Primary Care Trusts. The performance of services for disabled children is also a key indicator within Public Service Agreement 12 (improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people).

For children with life-limiting conditions, the service improvements needed have recently been identified in the government’s “Better Care, Better Lives” strategy.  Disabled child with mobility and community equipment needs are a priority for the government’s “Aiming High for Disabled Children” programme and the Department of Health’s ongoing Transforming Community Equipment and Wheelchair Services programme (TCE&WS).  The TCE&WS is developing a new model of wheelchair services and we are awaiting an announcement from the Government on next steps.

We understand that the Department of Health is allocating substantial additional funding to PCTs’ baseline budgets for short breaks for disabled children, children’s palliative care services and wheelchair services for disabled children. This is excellent news, and we now want to work with PCTs to ensure the funding is spent on the services and support that children and families so badly need.

However, there is a lack of clarity about the exact amount of funding allocated to each of these services in 2008-2011. This makes it difficult to monitor whether the new funding is being directed into the services for which it is intended and reaching families who need it most.  There needs to be reassurance that the additional money allocated to PCTs is achieving the necessary transformation in service provision.

EDM 1427 calls upon the government to provide the necessary information, and the text is set out below.  You can track the progress of the EDM here: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35686&SESSION=891We are asking ACT supporters and members to contact your local MP and ask them to sign up to this Early Day Motion (but please check to see if they have already signed up first).


Early Day Motion 1427: Health Funding for Disabled Children
 
That this House welcomes the commitments in the cross-government review of disabled children ‘Aiming High for Disabled Children: Better Support for Families’ to improve the quality of services for disabled children with complex health, mobility and palliative care needs; notes that, further to the review, the NHS Operating Framework for 2008-2009 establishes disabled children as one of only four local priority groups for PCTs; congratulates the work of

Every Disabled Child Matters, the Association for Children’s Palliative Care, the Association of Children’s Hospices and Whizz-Kidz in raising awareness of the challenges faced by disabled children and their families in accessing the health services they need; and calls on the government to quantify the NHS funding for 2008-11 allocated to improve the provision of short breaks for disabled children, children's palliative care services, community equipment for disabled children and wheelchair services for disabled children.