Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in residential special schools and colleges across England are to be offered free NHS dental, eyesight and hearing checks.

Children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism reportedly experience poorer oral healthcare outcomes than the general population, with greater severity and extent of tooth decay than their mainstream peers. Research shows they have higher levels of visible plaque and are twice as likely to have had one or more teeth removed.

The NHS sensory checks were piloted in schools during 2022 and 2023 and will be offered to all special residential schools and colleges across England from 2025 – reaching around 18,000 children and young people.

The checks will help ensure issues are identified promptly and that children and young people can get the right care and follow-up support as quickly as possible.

Tom Cahill, national learning disability and autism director at NHS England, said, “Mainstream services can sometimes struggle to meet the needs of autistic children and young people, or those with a profound learning disability, so these sensory checks in residential special schools will provide the support they need.

“Having specialist services which take account of an individual’s reasonable adjustments, with support from people that know them well and delivered by appropriately-trained staff, will help ensure that they are able to access sensory checks that other children and young people routinely receive.”

The NHS has worked with people with a learning disability, autism or both, their families and carers, special schools, clinicians, and other stakeholders to develop and test the sensory check. It has ensured appropriate clinical guidance and commissioning frameworks are in place to support the procurement and delivery of these services by local integrated care boards.

Anne Worrall-Davies, clinical lead for NHS England’s children and young people’s learning disability and autism and SEND, said, “We are delighted that we will soon be able to offer these vitally important checks to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to reduce health inequalities, identify unmet needs and provide any necessary treatment and follow-up support.

“The free NHS checks will ensure children and young people in residential special schools are able to lead happier, healthier lives with minimal disruption to their education and routine.”

Children and young people in residential special schools and colleges will be offered at least one annual face-to-face dental check.

There will also be a termly in-person oral health advice and prevention visit to check for any concerns and undertake activities such as applying fluoride varnish or demonstrating effective toothbrushing.

Stephen Kinnock, minister of state for care, said, “I am pleased we will be able to support vital sensory checks for all pupils in special educational settings, in a comfortable and known environment for them.

“These checks will enable health issues in around 18,000 children and young people to be identified more promptly – tackling health inequalities by giving them access to the right high-quality care and support faster.”

Children and young people in special residential schools and colleges have a range of complex health and other needs and these checks will be for children and young people up to 25 years old. All staff carrying out the sensory checks will be appropriately qualified, have undertaken the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in learning disability and autism and have been trained in how to make appropriate person-centred reasonable adjustments.

The Development of the Sensory Checks Programme was one of the commitments in the 2019 NHS Long Term Plan that set out to ensure that children and young people with learning disabilities or autism in residential special schools have access to dental, eye and hearing checks.

Residential educational settings were specifically identified as these children are likely to be placed a distance away from home, likely to be more vulnerable and likely to experience greater difficulties in accessing universal health services across England.

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