Same as removing delegated nursing tasks from all community based settings
There is so much anger, frustration and heartbreak around the cancellation of SEN summer schemes — and rightly so. These schemes are not a luxury. They are a lifeline for children and for families already pushed to the edge.
But we need to be absolutely clear, even when it’s hard to hear: this decision has been made on safety grounds.
The Education Authority has been explicit — without consistent, guaranteed nursing provision, they cannot ensure the safety of every child attending. This isn’t about willingness or effort. It’s about risk, responsibility, and duty of care. They have a legal and moral obligation to protect children, and right now, they cannot stand over that safety.
And that is the reality we are now facing.
But this didn’t just happen overnight.
This crisis is deeply rooted in the ongoing Trust review with the NMC of delegated nursing tasks the very issue families have been shouting about through #ElliesFightForFreedomNI.
For years, trained carers and classroom assistants have stepped up. With the support of Community Children’s Nurses, they have safely delivered essential care every single day — quietly holding together a system that was already under pressure.
Now, because of tightening restrictions, unclear guidance, and a lack of legal protection around who is “allowed” to carry out these tasks, that fragile system is being pulled out from under families.
And this is the consequence.
That uncertainty has created real risk. And when there is no clear, legally supported framework allowing trained non-nursing staff to deliver care — and not enough nurses to fill that gap — services don’t just struggle…
They stop.
Not because people don’t care.
But because they cannot safely operate within the system as it now stands.
We cannot ignore the reality:
- There are not enough nurses to cover every setting
- Removing trained carers from delivering care creates dangerous gaps
- And without clarity, organisations are forced to step back for safety reasons
Services don’t “adapt” under that pressure — they collapse.
And children pay the price.
Let’s be honest about what that means:
Children missing out.
Families left without support.
Parents pushed beyond breaking point.
All because the system has created a situation where safe care cannot be guaranteed.
So yes — be angry. Be heartbroken. Families have every right to be.
But that anger needs to be directed where it belongs — at a system that has ignored warnings, delayed action, and failed to protect the very children it is meant to serve.
Families have been raising this again and again through #ElliesFightForFreedomNI — calling for emergency legislation to allow Direct Payments and SDS carers to carry out necessary healthcare tasks safely and legally across all Trusts.
Because without that protection, this will keep happening.
More services will be cut.
More families will be left behind.
More children will lose out on the support they deserve.
This is not just about summer schemes anymore.
This is about a system that is failing its most vulnerable — and the urgent need to fix it before even more damage is done.
Because every child deserves access to support that is not only available — but safe.