Agenda item

Alex Hawley, Interim Director of Public Health to present the review of the Success of the Current Strategy under Aim 1.

Board Sponsors:-

Nicola Curley, Strategic Director, Children and Young People’s Services

Dr. Jason Page, Medical Director, Rotherham Place, SYICB

 

Nicola Curley, together with Alex Hawley presented a review of the success of the current Strategy under Aim 1:-

 

Best Start and Beyond Framework

-        A framework was developed to derive optimum value from work already underway within the system and to improve interoperability of the 0-19 Service and the wider system

-        This has been used to understand opportunities for partnership working

 

Strategic Priority 1 – Develop our approach to give every child the best start in life

Family Hubs and Best Start in Life Programme

-        Rotherham’s multi-agency transformational work to deliver the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme has been co-produced alongside a wide range of partners

-        Focussed on the first 1001 days with support available to all families

-        Building on existing partnership working has been a real strength with joined up working across health, local authority and voluntary and community sector organisations

-        Development of family hub network, Parent and Carer Panel and funded workstreams

-        A website and printed resources have been developed to support children getting the best start in life

 

Breastfeeding Friendly Borough

-        Rotherham’s leaders pledged to work towards becoming a Breastfeeding Friendly Borough

-        Peer Support Workers have been trained to support breastfeeding

-        The first breastfeeding friendly business has been recruited with further work in this area to follow

-        Breastfeeding friendly signage in libraries and Family Hubs

 

3-4 Month Visits

-        A universal 3-4 month visit was introduced

-        73% uptake was achieved

-        An evaluation of pilot underway

-        Potential challenges in funding the current service beyond the pilot

 

Local Maternity and Neonatal Services

-        A 3 year delivery plan which aimed to make care safer, more personalised and more equitable resulted in progress across 4 themes

·      Listening to women and families with compassion which promotes safer care

·      Supporting the workforce to develop their skills and capacity to provide high quality care

·      Developing and sustaining a culture of safety to benefit everyone

·      Meeting and improving standards and structures that underpin the national ambition

 

Baby Packs

-        A Rotherham Baby Pack offer has been developed to ensure every newborn baby’s family has access to essential items

-        Baby packs will be available from the end of March 2025

 

Strategic Priority 2 – Support children and young people to develop well Mental Health of Children and Young People

-        Covid-19 presented a challenge to the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people

-        Targeted support was provided including a Team Around the School (TAS) approach, having Mental Health Support Teams in school settings and Kooth (an online mental health and wellbeing service) being available to 11-25 year olds

 

SEND

-        An independent travel training (ITT) offer has been created to support children with special educational needs or disabilities

-        A new post-14 specialist campus opened in September 2023 providing 50 school places for people with additional needs

 

Compassionate Approach

-        A compassionate approach has been introduced with initial focus on weight management

-        Training delivered and opportunities identified to incorporate into practice

-        Reflects personalised holistic approach

 

Moving Forward

-        A greater focus on school age children/young people

-        Director of Public Health report 2025

-        Continuing to roll-out breastfeeding friendly places

-        Transition from Family Hubs short-term programme to an embedded model

-        Continued roll-out and monitoring of baby packs

-        Evaluation of the 3-4 month Health Visiting check

 

Discussion ensued on the presentation with the following issues raised/clarified:-

 

·        To help the greater focus on school aged children/young people, the Director of Public Health’s annual report would be used to gain an understanding of what the needs and gaps were in school aged children and those transitioning to adulthood

 

·        Access to play was recognised in Rotherham’s Strategy and was a key part of the provision through the Family Hubs and various drop-in sessions.  They were clearly a key part of the early education offer but also needed to be included within the assessment for older children

 

·        The starting point for Family Hubs was one per locality and inevitably had concentrated most of the resources where there was greater access e.g. public transport.  However, due to the extensive spaces in Rotherham where there was no public transport, the opportunity had been taken to extend through VAR.  This had been done in an opportunistic manner and needed to be planned

 

·        A number of local authorities had declared themselves as Trauma Informed.  Although Rotherham was not a Trauma Informed Borough, Rotherham’s Children’s Services did operate on a Trauma Informed basis, provided Trauma Informed training through the Safeguarding Board and a number of schools took a Trauma Informed Approach.  There were a number of things that impacted on children and young people including issues around children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing

 

·        The opening of the Post-14 specialist academy in September had been a significant achievement of the previous Strategy

 

·        The Rotherham Family Hubs model had not been traditional; it had worked in partnership with all providers and included rural areas

 

Resolved:-  (1)  That the successes presented under Aim 1 be noted.

 

(2)  That there be a greater focus on school age children/young people going forward.

 

(3)  That the Board help with transition from family hubs short term programme to an embedded model.

 

(4)  That the uncompleted actions highlighted in the Aim be rolled over to the Action Plan of the new Strategy.

 

(5)  That a briefing note be circulated to the Board on the progress of the Post-14 specialist academy.