Agenda item

Bev Pepperdine, Performance Assurance Manager, to present

Bev Pepperdine, Performance Assurance Manager presented the outcome of the Voice of the Child Lifestyle Survey 2019 with the aid of a powerpoint presentation

The Lifestyle Survey was an annual survey open to pupils in Y7 and Y10.  It captured the voice of children and young people and aimed to highlight the results to support the allocation of resources to improve the health of children and young people as well as providing a baseline for monitoring the impact of services provided to improve health and wellbeing. The survey enabled benchmarking and comparison between other areas, provide information that could be used to plan resources and shape curriculums and highlight areas to explore further in terms of health inequalities.

The presentation illustrated the trends:-

What is Working Well

-          More children and young people said they were eating the recommended portions of fruit and vegetables

-          Less children said they would choose to drink high sugar drinks and high energy drinks

-          More young people were doing regular exercise

-          Young people said that safety around the Rotherham bus and train stations and the town centre had improved

-          There was less bullying

-          Less young people identified themselves as a young carer

-          Those that identified themselves as young carers felt more confident that they could continue with further education

-          Less were smoking regular cigarettes

-          Less had tried alcohol

-          More young people had received education on child sexual exploitation

-          Less Year 10 young people said they had had sexual intercourse

What areas are we Worried About

-          More young people said they had a mental health diagnosis and more felt that their mental health was poor

-          Less had said they were visiting their dentist on a 6 monthly basis

-          Less had said they were drinking the recommended amount of water each day

-          More young people were skipping lunch

-          Less felt their weight was okay

-          More felt they had no-one to talk to

-          There was an increase in the number of young carers who said that they had struggles

-          Less had said their home was a smoke free home

-          More had said they had tried an electronic cigarette

-          Although slightly less had said they had tried drugs, the types of drugs they were trying were the harder type of drugs and the frequency of drug use had increased

-          More Year 10 pupils said they had had sex after drugs or alcohol use

-          More Year 10 pupils said they did not use contraception

What are we Worried About

-          2019 – 10.6% of young people said they had a diagnosis of a mental health condition compared to 5% in 2015

-          2019 Year 7 – 8.3% rated their mental health as poor compared to 5% in 2017

-          2019 Year 10 – 17.5% rated their mental health as poor compared to 12% in 2017

-          2019 – 4% (145) of young people said they would not have anyone they could talk to if they had a problem compared to 3.4% (90) in 2016

-          CAMHS Service – 2019 increase in the volume of referrals to support young people with their mental health

Each school would receive their own confidential results to enable comparisons to be made to the Borough-wide results that could be used to plan resources and shape curriculums.

Partners received highlight reports and there was an expectation they would provide feedback on the actions taken and the impact thereof and planned actions for the future

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/clarified:-

·           12 out of the 16 schools had participated in the survey; 3 of the 4 non-participators were different to those of last year

·           Work was taking place regionally across South Yorkshire and the Humber on producing a bank of questions to enable bench marking to take place

·           The outcomes informed the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment

·           Clarification required as to the exact percentage increase, if any, of Autism.  However, CAMHS had seen a huge increase in the number of referrals largely from schools

·           Was it acceptable that the schools’ information was confidential?

·           The CAMHS’ transformation plan was about promoting mental health and getting the appropriate support/help

Resolved:-  (1)  That the report be noted.

(2)  That Health and Wellbeing Strategy leads and sponsors consider the issues of the report relevant to their particular Aim and Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.

ACTION:-  Becky Woolley/all Aim leads and sponsors

(After the meeting the following information was supplied:-

3.3 Health – Disabilities

Pupils were asked if they had a diagnosed long term illness, health problem, disability or medical condition.  In 2019 22% (902) of pupils said they had a diagnosed condition.  This is 6% increase from 2015 when overall 16% (496) of pupils said they had a diagnosed medical condition.

2019 – Out of the 902 pupils who said they have a diagnosed medical condition, the 3 main medical conditions are:

I hope this clarifies the data a little clearer, therefore this shows the % to be on par with the national information that was quoted.)