Wakefield District Health and Care Partnership receives special recognition award at a prestigious NHS England best practice event

Wakefield District Health and Care Partnership received a prestigious special recognition award from NHS England at the recent Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Best Practice Health 2025 event held in Sheffield, in the category of SEND Integrated Care Board Leadership.

NHS England’s SEND programme hosted this event to celebrate and recognise outstanding Best Practice in health for SEND. Teams and individuals from across the sector were invited to submit their projects and individuals for consideration, with selected nominees attending the event to showcase their work and receive recognition alongside their peers, as well as children and young people with SEND and their families.

At the event, a presentation was given on Wakefield’s Dynamic Support Register (DSR).  Over the last 12 months, the DSR has maintained exceptionally low numbers of Tier 4 inpatient mental health admissions for children and young people. This is a testament to its proactive, multi-agency partnership approach that effectively identifies and supports children and young people at risk of family or education breakdown, or institutional care.  The DSR is also supported by Barnardo’s keyworker service, enabling consistent advocacy and support for families.

By focusing on early intervention and timely care planning, the DSR prevents crises, enabling children and young people to remain within their communities while improving their stability, wellbeing, and long-term outcomes.

From April 2019 to September 2023, there were no Tier 4 admissions for children and young people with learning disabilities, and only two for autism – highlighting Wakefield’s success in keeping children and young people within their communities, fostering stability, and prioritising their short and long-term experience and wellbeing.

The report following the Area SEND inspection of Wakefield Local Area Partnership in 2024 states that ‘The dynamic support register is effective in preventing in-patient admissions for children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both. Rates of admission to hospital are low. Children and young people at risk of admission without a diagnosis of a learning disability or autism can be included. This means more children and young people benefit from the process.’

The Area SEND inspection of Wakefield Local Area Partnership can be read in full on the Ofsted website https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50253460

More details about the Dynamic Support Register in Wakefield District can be found on the Wakefield Local Offer website https://wakefield.mylocaloffer.org/dynamic-support-register-dsr/what-is-a-dynamic-support-register/