2:39. Information which a maintained school must make available must include the school's arrangements for working in partnership with the health services, social services, the education welfare service and any relevant local and national voluntary organisations.  As explained below, schools' first point of contact with the health services will usually be the school doctor or the child's general practitioner.  This doctor will usually be able to advise the school but, if a problem is confirmed, should also tell the medical officer designated to work with children with special educational needs that the school has sought advice about a child.  Schools' first point of contact with social services will usually be with an officer similarly designated to work with schools and LEAs on behalf of children with special educational needs.

2:40. In order to achieve full collaboration at both school and local authority level, representatives of LEAs, social services departments and the health services may choose to meet on a reasonably regular basis to plan and coordinate activity.  Such arrangements will vary according to local circumstances, but the principles of partnership and close working relationships between agencies, supported by meetings to discuss both strategic and operational issues, will have general application.

Child health services

2:41. A child's difficulty at school may be related to a medical condition, disability or developmental delay, which might be first identified by the child's general practitioner, health visitor, therapist, the school health service, community paediatrician or through a teacher's or parent's expression of anxiety about an aspect of the child's health and development.

2:42. When schools first suspect a medical problem they should, having obtained the consent of the child's parents, consult the school doctor or the child's general practitioner.  If a problem is confirmed, the doctor consulted should in turn notify the medical officer designated by the district health authority (DHA) to work with the LEA on behalf of children with special educational needs and to lead the DHA's contribution to the statutory assessment process.  If the designated officer is given early information about a child, he or she will be able to respond quickly and within the statutory time limits to any later request from the LEA for advice in the making of a statutory assessment.

2:43. How the health services contribute to the identification of children with special educational needs will depend upon the role of the family's general practitioner and the contractual arrangements which the DHA have with providers of health services for children.  Almost all of these providers will be one of the following types of NHS Trusts:

? acute hospital Trusts responsible for hospital services for children

? community Trusts with responsibility for children's services provided outside hospital

? combined acute and community Trusts who, in addition to hospital services, also manage child development centres and child health clinics.