To ask the Minister of Health to detail how his Department ensures that families of children with complex needs are treated equitably in service allocation decisions compared to families whose children access Health and Social Care Trust-funded group activities.

It is important that HSC Trusts identify and assess the needs of all vulnerable children to ensure that needs are appropriately met at an early stage.

Support services and any potential funding that may be available to families of children with disability are based on an assessment of need / eligibility made by the respective Health & Social Care Trust.

Across all HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland – the Understanding The Needs of Children In Northern Ireland (UNOCINI) assessment framework is the standardised assessment model that is used within children’s services to measure assessed need for children and families – this includes assessed need in terms of support required, and also for assessment of service allocation based on need. The UNOCINI is an inter-agency assessment model that was developed in Northern Ireland to:

improve the quality of assessment within stakeholder agencies.

assist in communicating the needs of children across agencies.

avoid the escalation of children’s needs through early identification of need and effective intervention.