Children and Young Peoples' Neurodevelopmental Conditions - Early support for Families

NHS North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has sought to commission a service for early support for families for children and young people with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Monies will be allocated to organisations that can provide needs led, innovative, trusted, and responsive services and interventions to children, young people, and families to support the management of neurodevelopmental conditions (definition below)* in the 0-25 age group across North East Essex.

To include pre, during and post assessment models of support for children and young people with neurodevelopmental conditions and their families, complementing services which already exist.

Social support refers to the various types of support (i.e., assistance/help) that people receive from others and is generally classified into major categories: emotional, instrumental, and informational support.

Families have told us that support means different things to different people at different times and is not necessarily health related. It can also vary over time. In the context of those with neurodevelopmental/behavioural needs support needs to include the family/carer as well as the individual child/young person. Support for them should aim to build resilience and be empowering, individualised, age appropriate, it should improve knowledge and access to those with lived experience.

Types of support for families could include: Volunteer Mentors, Befriending, Psychological, Practical, Information, Advice, Social, Peer support, Advocacy, Parenting skills and behavioural support. It should also be:

• needs led
• holistic
• easily accessible
• proactive
• timely
• publicised/well known
• accurate
• collaborative
• flexible
• responsive
• compassionate
• connective.

*Neurodevelopmental conditions are a group of disorders which affect the development of the nervous system, leading to abnormal brain function which may affect emotion, learning ability, self-control, and memory. The effects of neurodevelopmental disorders tend to last for a person's entire lifetime. The most commonly associated behavioural conditions and most challenging for families to get support on are oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder and anxiety. They form the largest group associated with child disability such as, learning disabilities, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, autism, seizures, stuttering or stammering, moderate to profound hearing loss, blindness. Children with neurodevelopmental disorders can experience difficulties with language and speech, motor skills, behaviour, memory, learning, or other neurological functions. Additional information: The contract will run for 2 years commencing on the 1 October 2021. The contract value for this term is £599,279.12.

The maximum contract value for the 4 year contract (2 years plus option to extend by 2 years) is £1,198,558.24.