Children and young people are our future; we want to give them the best start in life. This starts in pregnancy and the early years and continues through supporting children and young people throughout their journey to adulthood. This week we are focussing on children and young people 5-19 – so all those interested in our young people’s health are invited to join us in this week of action; that includes young people, parents, schools, health and social care professionals, and commissioners – both Local Authority and health.
Whilst there has and continues to be a focus on early years we need to remember that children throughout their journey to adulthood may need support. During the school-aged years children and young people are growing, developing and becoming more independent; they may also be exposed to challenges which can impact on their health. Those working with this age group need to be able to deliver evidence based interventions to improve health and wellbeing and to provide opportunities to improve life chances.
As part of our commitment to developing the evidence base we have developed ‘All Our Health’. AOH is a multi-disciplinary ‘Call to Action’ to health and care professionals (HCPs) individually and collectively, to contribute to the Five Year Forward View’s call to;
- close the health and wellbeing gap
- contribute to radical upgrade in prevention and public health
- develop a social movement and culture for health
All Our Health aims to address these though
- Accessible evidence for practice, resources and tools
- Metrics and outcomes measures
- Education
- Alignment with and support through other programmes
- Alignment with public facing health campaigns
- Culture change and social movement
- Building capacity and capability
Within AOH we are starting to build more examples and chapters relating to children and young people – these currently include; obesity and transition 10-14. We would love to hear from you about what you think we should include.
As public health nurses we all know how important prevention and upstream early intervention is and those working with children and young people recognise how by working with them we can support behaviour change and improve life chances. Leading Change – adding value, provided a fabulous opportunity to highlight public health, the first 3 of the 10 commitments focus on prevention and the Nursing Directorate at PHE are leading this work stream.
This week we are focussing on children and young people 5-19, this provides a perfect opportunity to highlight the crucial role school nurses and their teams provide in partnership with others including social care and education. School nurses are leaders in health and wellbeing for children and young people, they are also are probably one of the most creative and innovative workforces we have – their determination and willingness to embrace new ideas has given rise to new ideas and supported new ways of working. This week we will be showcasing some of the many examples of good practice.
So join us this week – share your thoughts, good practice and ambitions for the future, we want to support highlight how and where we can make the difference and improve outcomes for are children and young people who are not just our future they are our present – so we need to act now!
Main Collection Page: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/all-our-health-personalised-care-and-population-health
Topic chapter links can be found from the main collection page
About the Framework: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/all-our-health-about-the-framework/all-our-health-about-the-framework
Place Based Services of Care: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/place-based-services-of-care/placed-based-services-of-care
Viv Bennett, Chief Nurse, Public Health England
