Healthcare Services Survey Report
Your voices truly matter - by sharing your experiences and feedback, you've played an important role in helping healthcare providers understand the real challenges faced by families of children and young people with SEND.
Your input will support meaningful conversations around what needs to change.
Thank you for speaking up, spreading the word, and helping us to support SEND families.
In December 2025, working jointly with the parent carer forums in Bristol and North Somerset we asked parent carers to share their experiences of accessing healthcare for their child or young person. We wanted to better understand the challenges families face in getting appropriate, timely and compassionate healthcare for their child or young person.
A heartfelt thank you to all of you who took the time to complete the survey.
Here are some of the key things we heard:
A fragmented system
Less than 10% of you thought that services were well joined up.
“GP cannot read hospital notes, hospitals can’t read each other’s notes, Southmead can’t read Children’s Hospital or GOSH notes, none of the hospitals can read Sirona’s and who knows what the school sees!”
Barriers to Support from Community Services
Many of you reported long waiting lists and restrictive eligibility when seeking help from community health services, with little to no support available while waiting.“My self-referral was initially rejected and I wasn't informed … they felt my son needed their service but they wanted me to ring their advice line (which I had tried to do and nobody answered)”
Children and Young People’s unmet and escalating Mental Health needs
There was widespread evidence from parent carers of unmet mental health need among children and young people.“Very limited mental health support for children not bad enough for CAMHS but too bad for school nurse - it is a huge issue.”
Accessing private healthcare
37% of respondents had used private health care.“We've had no choice but to seek private help despite the cost and lengthy journeys”
Health Professional Communication and Engagement with CYP and Parent Carers
Experiences were very mixed.“we have had one consultant who knew Makaton that was the best appointment my son ever had it was so smooth and he listened, he engaged, it was amazing”.
But other parents reported a lack of understanding of SEND.
SEND Rights and Entitlements
Many parent carers reported a lack of engagement in the EHCP process from health services, or inadequate reports that appeared to be based on available resources rather than individual children’s needs.“It was a massive fight to get her health needs included”
Read the Summary of Findings
Read the full report
July 2025