New NHS SLT coming in tomorrow - consent to info sharing

[appropriatelyemployed]

OK, we had a massive battle with the LA and the local SLT team which do all their work last year.

This ended up in them meeting without us to discuss DS, filing reports without consent etc etc. Complaint with the Trust that manages the SLT service is finally being dealt with and they have apologised for breaches of the DPA.

We are now at a school over the county boundary. We still have the same LA dealing with the statement but the SLT has been farmed out to the SLT team in the county in which the school is in.

Already, this new SLT made an appointment to see DS tomorrow without telling me or asking for my consent. I rang her and she said she was 'happy for me to come along'.

I let it go at that as I think people don't always know the right way to do these things as the systems they work in deal so poorly and cavalierly regarding consent etc

However, I want to provide this SLT with a very specific and limited form of consent to information sharing tomorrow but I don't want to be too confrontational.

Any suggestions?

I was thinking of something like:

"Following our experience of persistent breaches of the Data Protection Act and confidentiality obligations in relation to DS as a patient of a X SLT service, we request that future information be shared with other agencies, including the Local Authority, only with our specific written consent. This information includes but is not limited to reports, verbal feedback, advice, and matters relating to the conduct and operation of the service as it relates to DS. This limitation contains the proviso that we are happy for information to be shared freely with school about the day to day operation of the programme.

Written parental consent must always be obtained to assess DS in any way.

We are happy to discuss this condition at any time if it is felt that it impedes the implementation of DS's SLT programme"

I know and I am sure that is not how they started out - when you talk to people, you can see it in their faces sometimes.

I used to be like that.
I freely admit it.Winging it from day to day and hoping peopel wouldn't probe too deeply into what I knew was a pretty sorry plan of 'action'.

Then I learnt about ABA and WOKE UP from my slumber and started doing something. Now I feel strong enough to take on the world!

Think a lot of professionals get confused between good practice/guidelines and established practice.

The gov publish policies and many LAs then write their own. Although these documents exist and are referred to in meetings galore, the reality is no change, except in the odd incident with a particular child one fine day. It all then gets assumed that these documents represent established practice.

Nappyshed, can you honestly say that all IEP targets for all children at you school are both SMART and contributed to, partly written by parents and reviewed at least termly?

My honourable SALT btw, was pretty rubbish at delivering appropriate therapy for my DS. When I told her that I recognised my DS in her report but was unclear as to what she was actually recommending she said, in front of a whole multidisciplinary team, that she didn't KNOW what to do.

Bloody brave of her faced with the others in the room and 'possibly' more particularly a parent like me.

But how could you fail to have respect for someone like that?

Yes, knowing what you don't know is key.

Much rather a 'I don't know what to do', then a 'this will work because it is what I always use'.

You can see from my other post about DS under the table at school that THREE years after this diagnostic and statementing business started, it seems the collective pool of wisdom is no nearer to identifying a method for helping him communicate at school.

So why do I have to have these people on the statement? I wish I knew then what I know now.

It's a conversation I had at length with the lovely MNer (I met two lovely MNers actually) on the course I attended this weekend.

If you don't know something or what to do, then just say so.
It's the lies and half truths and smoke and mirrors stuff that gets people riled, not the truth.

I guess that's why I'm going for an independent special now. It is to cleanse his statement of those currently on it.

The new arrangement won't be perfect. Doubt very much they are as evidence-based or measure as much as I would like, but they are accessible, available and accountable, and that I can work with.

I know Moondog, but that SALT that didn't know what to do, is less likely than the SALT who re-interpreted her recommendations to say DS had no SALT needs, to be seen favourable by the LA or possibly her employers.

Not my or ds' problem of course but part of the reason I didn't feel able to hold her up as an example of why we need to try something new etc.