"Don't be a deprived child in West Berkshire"
Number of children having regular dental and health checks among lowest in the county
Don’t be a deprived child in West Berkshire.
That was the verdict following an annual report made to West Berkshire Council’s Health and Wellbeing board last week.
Concerns were raised over the level of health care provided to children being looked after by West Berkshire Council, during a recent meeting of the Health and Wellbeing board.
In an annual report, board members heard that many children in care across the district were not receiving regular health or dental checks, while a measure of emotional distress in looked after children was among the highest in Berkshire.
The statistics include children who may be living with foster parents, at home with their parents under supervision of social services, in residential children’s homes or other residential settings like schools or secure units.
According to the report, there were 170 such children in West Berkshire as of March 2015, a rate of 47 per 100,000 population with only Reading and Slough having a higher rate.
Board members raised concerns after hearing that the number of those children having regular dental checks was the lowest in Berkshire at just 71.4 per cent, while the number receiving an annual health check was 85.7 per cent – the second lowest in Berkshire.
The SDQ score, a way to measure the emotional distress in children, was the second highest in Berkshire with only Reading fairing worse.
Gordon Lundie told the board he was concerned about the rates of looked after children in West Berkshire, which he pointed out is 1.5 times higher than that of Wokingham.
Communities director at West Berkshire Council, Rachael Wardell, responded, saying that the figures were improving and that the council services were becoming more successful in moving children out of care into permanent placements, as well as preventing youngsters being moved in to care in the first place.
She said: “That rate is coming down, it is currently at 161 – 151 if you only include looked after children from our own patch – so our rate is coming down, which effectively means children are coming out of care.
“We are also working with more charities to stop them coming into care and we are now more effective at working with families and preventing children coming into care.”
However, summing the statistics up, board member Andrew Sharp said: “The worrying thing is that all of the facts say don’t be a deprived child in West Berkshire.”