Ms Helen Walsh:

There is a level of confusion in the sector as to what complex needs means. We need to acknowledge that first. In our work with schools, and this speaks to many of the points made earlier about mainstream and special class allocation, we recognise there are some children whose care needs are such that the class teacher can manage and there can be successful intervention at class level. We could call that tier 1. At tier 2, one is looking at intermittent care needs. Those are where a child needs support which might be dispersed over the course of a day but it is not ongoing and intense in that context. The real complex care needs we are seeing is those students who need what is not almost full-time care but care at such a level of frequency and intensity right throughout that day that they must have SNA support on a very continuous basis.