The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education have asked NICE to develop a service guideline for disabled children and young people with severe complex needs.
The guideline will be developed using the methods and processes outlined in developing NICE guidelines: the manual.
This guideline will also be used to develop the NICE quality standard for children and young people with disabilities and complex needs.
Why the guideline is needed
Disabled children and young people who also have a mental health or behavioural condition or a physical health condition, may have increasingly severe, complex and changing needs. It is important that health, social care and education services work together to meet these. This guideline will focus on integrating health, social care and education services for disabled children and young people with severe complex needs, and their families and carers. Whereas ‘integration of services’ can relate to unifying service infrastructure at a national, regional or local level, the aim of this guideline is to deliver seamless provision of services from the perspective of the child or young person and their families and carers.