Keyworking service

Service for families with children/young people aged 0-25 with a diagnosed learning disability and/or are autistic

Funding has been secured from the NHS for the keyworking service. The NHS Long Term Plan pledges that by 2023/24 children and young people with a learning disability and/or are autistic, with the most complex needs will have a designated keyworker.

You can find out more about keyworkers and the support they provide below:

NHS England - Children and young people keyworkers

What are the keyworking teams?

The keyworking teams are small teams of highly experienced individuals working across Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County borders, to create the right structures and interventions to enable early identification, recognition and accountability. Children and young people will experience a coordinated response with support that promotes long term sustainable change for themselves and their families.

The keyworker will provide highly personalised and flexible face-to-face support to children, young people and their families to identify what works well for the individual, where support is helpful and where support is required. The service will be child-centred and will take a whole family approach, with support tailored to the outcomes identified by the young person and their family.

Am I eligible for keyworker support?

Referrals come from a single point of contact, the Dynamic Support Register (DSR). To be eligible for support from a keyworker, your child must have been diagnosed as autistic or with a learning disability.

Keyworker support will be prioritised to those children and young people currently in a Tier 4 hospital setting and those identified as at risk of hospital setting admission, as defined by the DSR. The DSR holds information about young people and what areas of their care may require enhanced community support. The information helps services to work more closely together to manage a person’s support effectively and ensure good outcomes in the community.

How keyworkers will support you:

Visiting your child at home, in the community or at school /college
Talking to your child and yourselves on the telephone
Helping you to understand the care and support options, so you all feel confident to make decisions. Helping your child and your family to talk to professionals and to attend meetings with you
Helping you to access services that might be able to help you
Giving you information in a way that works for you and will help you to understand what treatment is available
Helping you to understand how the health, education and social care teams work together
Being the main contact for your child and your family
Making sure that you are as involved as you want to be

Nottinghamshire peer support team for the keyworking service

As part of the team, there are co-production and peer support co-ordinators whose role is to support children and young people/adults and their families to reconnect with their community, share experiences and have opportunities to attend enrichment events and meaningful activities.

There are parent/carer drop-in sessions, informative webinars and training, wellbeing workshops and craft sessions. We also have a e-newsletter which is sent four times per year. This is a county wide team with the office based in Ollerton.

For more information, please email: thekey@nottscc.gov.uk