A Joint Targeted Area Inspection is imminent for Devon

A child playing with Lego

A Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) is expected to come to Devon imminently.

Preparations are underway within the Devon SCP as our partners gear up for inspection.

Focus of the inspection

Inspections look to assess the arrangements and services that are in place for providing help and protection to vulnerable children across the county. These inspections are jointly undertaken by Ofsted, Care Quality Commission, HMICFRs and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.

The JTAI inspection of the Devon SCP will take a deeper look into how local services respond to children and their families where children are living with mental ill health. The inspection will look at the experience of between 5 and 7 children, aged between 10 and 15 years old, who are living with mental ill health and in receipt of multi-agency services.

Mental ill health is the specific theme of the upcoming inspection and will carry out an in-depth evaluation of the work being done to support children and families where this is a factor. However, the broader function of the Partnership and individual agencies will also be included

Evaluation criteria

  • Professionals are well-trained, confident and knowledgable. They have the required skills to talk to children about their emotional health and wellbeing. Professionals provide support if appropriate. They know where they can get advice and refer children for support if required.
  • Agencies share information effectively and work together to identify children who display signs of mental ill health.
  • Professionals challenge each other appropriately to ensure good practice. This includes access to reflective supervision.
  • Agencies work in partnership with others to appropriately identify children living with mental ill health and refer children to appropriate services and professionals. They have access to specialist advice and support that results in children receiving timely and effective assessments of their mental health.
  • Decisions that are made are appropriate and based on a full understanding of risk.
  • That leaders and managers know and understand the mental health needs of children in their area.
  • That leaders and managers recognise the challenges involved in responding to children’s mental health needs.
  • That leaders and managers provide effective support, training and challenge to practitioners in order to promote continuous improvement in service provision.

Preparations

The Devon SCP and its members are working hard to ensure that they are as prepared as possible for an event that brings with it a range of challenges.

It is important for levels of preparedness to be as high as possible so that the Partnership can best demonstrate the positive action it is undertaking across the county. Moreover, the Partnership will only have 10 working days after official notification of an inspection before work on the ground begins.

If you would like to find out more about the upcoming JTAI, please contact the Devon SCP at dcfp@devon.gov.uk


Top