Question reference: S4W-29511
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 27 January 2016
-
Current status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 8 February 2016
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many children under five have been referred for speech and language therapy in each of the last five years.
Answer
This information is not currently collected centrally, however we are working closely with Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland to develop a consistent approach to data collection relating to all allied health professional (AHP) services, including speech and language therapy. This will ensure that in the future AHPs will be better placed to report nationally on the quality of their service delivery, including user experience, by implementing a national data set and using quality measures agreed for national and local reporting, particularly in relation to the nationally agreed outcomes for integration of health and social care services.
Speech and language is included as part of the assessment of child development as part of the 27-30 month review to identify early and respond to emerging speech and language needs. The Child Health 27-30 Month Review Statistics, published by ISD in December 2015, show that in 2014-15 50,956 children had a review by 30 months with 11% of these having newly identified speech and language concerns and 3% noted as having existing speech and language concerns at the time of the review.