Public Health Nursing
Winner
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust: Health visiting direct referral to Citizens Advice
Staff recognised their ability to respond to some families’ health needs was impeded when there were broader issues at play. They saw that they didn’t have the necessary skills to address these – but staff at Citizens Advice (CA) did. As such, two health visitors developed a pathway with CA, whereby one branch acted as a lead and liaised with all other local branches. Clients presented with a broad range of issues but health benefi ts seen as a result of accessing CA tended to relate to mental health. Feedback suggested clients would not have accessed CA had they not been referred, but all service users reported having had a positive experience and said they would recommend the service.
Finalists
Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust: Raising the voice of the child with health conditions
An animation was created using Images
drawn by three primary school children
with type 1 diabetes to enhance their
peers’ knowledge of diabetes. Children
found it educational and fun; teachers
said it was fantastic and asked for it to be
added to school nurse training packages.
Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust: Health for young carers
Young carers in secondary schools were given the chance to personalise a health and wellbeing booklet to help them speak up about being a young carer and get appropriate support. Feedback showed their wellbeing improved.
Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust: Specialist health visitor for vulnerable families in temporary accommodation
This role was created to address unmet
health needs of asylum seeker families in
temporary accommodation. Working
with health/care services and the hotels
in which families were housed resulted in
improved advocacy and families feeling
better able to trust local services.
ICON: The ICON Cope programme
Infants aged <1 year are at greatest risk
of homicide, often due to shaking linked
to prolonged crying and parental stress.
Through simple messaging, this
programme helps parents/caregivers to
cope and prevents devastating e ects.
National roll-out has been recommended.
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust: Digital health and wellbeing contacts
An online confidential questionnaire was
created to provide health information to
young people and identify those
needing further intervention. Red-flag
questions/words enabled school nursing
teams to triage responses. More than
8.000 forms were completed, nearly half
of which revealed at least one red flag.
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: Operation Encompass: police cause for concern triage pilot
Three nurses sat with police, a children social care team manager and early help manager to discuss how to meet the health needs of, and offer a support pathway to, children and families involved in domestic abuse incidents. All identified families who wanted support received it.
Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust: 0-19 Research Network (Yorkshire and Humber)
A programme was set up to support and
increase the participation of children and
families in public health research, and
build professionals’ research capacity.
New research champion roles and a First
Steps programme, along with events to
raise awareness, led to eight project
applications being made and funded.
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust: Rainbow baby health visiting pilot: supporting parenting following loss
It was identified that families that had experienced stillbirth or neonatal loss needed additional targeted support after the birth of a subsequent child. Trauma-informed, personalised care was offered and an audit showed that the service was a huge benefit to families.
South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust: Tobacco dependency treatment in HMP Prison Hydebank Wood
Many people in prison wanted to stop
smoking but had no access to relevant
services that could help them. A weekly
clinic that was established to help them
end their tobacco dependency proved
successful – it led to a quit rate of 60%.
Spectrum Community Health CIC: Inclusive health service
This nurse-led outreach project set out
to engage with homeless people in safe
places (such as hostels) and guide them
to health and housing support, thereby
reducing pressure on emergency
departments. Referrals and annual recall
appointments have been supported.
Turning Point: Rochdale and Oldham Active Recovery (ROAR) nursing team
Helping to address health inequalities
for people with a history of substance
misuse, the team increased access to
health screening, delivered hepatitis B
vaccinations, outreach hepatitis C testing
and treatment, and introduced novel
opiate substitute therapies.