So, how do you consult users of a highly valued service?

At the Childrens Committee this week at Shire Hall we voted on the changes to the services that support families in need of help. The general direction of travel is towards integrated teams, linking up different areas of support and providing a single point of entry to the service.

For children with sensory challenges, whether visual or aural, there has been a strong demand from parents as to whether this model would work best for them, based on the very high standards and dedication of the staff who currently provide these services, who - if needed - provide the conduit into accessing other services.

We agreed that the approach of retaining the distinct sensory support service met the needs of the children and their parents. But it raised the question for me of how best to consult on changes - how to be sure that people who might use a service in future as well as the current users, how to involve hard to reach groups, how to give enough time for people to really engage and put their views across and so on.    

A good result tho'