A new children’s health booklet for Bradford

The urgent and emergency care programme is keen to identify opportunities for improving health and for reducing health inequalities. As a Partnership, we continue to encourage people to ‘choose well’ especially as health and care services continue to be under enormous pressure. If people do become unwell and have an urgent medical problem, it is important they get the care that is most appropriate for their needs.

Equipping people to ‘choose well’ is very important as it reduces the need for those with low acuity cases, such as a minor complaint that is non-urgent, and instances where people could see their community pharmacist to then undertake appropriate self-care at home rather than attending primary or acute care settings. Emergency departments are there to treat those with life-threatening and critical illnesses and injuries.

Some people and groups within our more deprived communities across West Yorkshire may have lower levels of health literacy and may not have access IT. We are keen to highlight areas of good practice to help close the gap on widening health inequalities.

With a drive to social media and online platforms there are far fewer printed materials than in recent years and many groups will not be seeking out or accessing online information at all meaning we are disconnected from some groups of people within our communities. Local engagement is important to make connections and gaining the trust of the seldom reached.

Recently and during the COVID-19 pandemic there has been some great work across our places in conjunction with third and voluntary sector colleagues to share and reach the seldom reached.

Case studies like this one show how we have worked differently across West Yorkshire to:

Reach and engage people with low levels of health literacy
Equip people with the knowledge to choose the right service for their needs
Reach people with little or no internet access.

Background

Most babies, toddlers and children will get common childhood illnesses such as coughs, colds, fever, diarrhoea and vomiting. Children can often be treated at home with advice from the pharmacist, health visitor or GP.

The ambition

Bradford identified that there was a gap in information that could be shared with parents that provided them with trusted health advice to help them care for their child at home without seeking face-to-face health advice or an appointment with a health professional.

What they did

Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership (formerly Bradford CCG) created a handy booklet called ‘If your child is poorly’ which you can download here. The booklet was developed with the input of specialist paediatric clinicians and went through a rigorous sign-off process and was almost a year in the making.

Information was then provided in community languages including Arabic, Polish and Slovak. This was done to meet the needs of people who are homeless or in unstable accommodation; those who have come to Bradford as refugees or to seek asylum that may have young families.

The advice includes covers various common childhood illnesses and pro-active steps parents can take such as keeping some medicines at home and reinforcing important safety information.

Data was used to identify areas where families attended emergency departments frequently and the booklet was mailed to these postcodes. Following this, several thousand copies of the booklet were printed and distributed around the city. Letters were also shared alongside the booklet and sent for circulation at local schools and nurseries for children and young people to take home with them.

Letters to go with the booklet were updated in September 2021 to reference COVID-19 and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and produced and sent to headteachers, nurseries to also share with their parents. Settings were also encouraged to pro-actively share with parents in other ways, in school newsletters and on social media for example.

What happened next

In May 2021 there was extremely high attendances within EDs emergency departments across West Yorkshire and a request was made via the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT) calling for urgent and consistent communications messages across the healthcare system in terms of the utilisation of NHS 111 first and access to primary care.

There was an urgent need for additional and consistent messages that could be shared widely around accessing services via NHS 111 and underlining that general practice is still open for business.

Emergency departments were seeing increasing numbers of low acuity cases and instances where people could have seen a pharmacist and undertaken appropriate self-care at home. There were also high numbers of parents attending departments for face-to-face reassurance following the changes in primary care and GP practices working differently (for example, expanded use of video, online and telephone consultations). Where people and new parents may have once had the reassurance of their close networks and communities, the pandemic and national restrictions did not make this possible.

Bradford shared the resource with colleagues across West Yorkshire and it was agreed as an area of good practice that could be shared across the region. The content was taken and used in many different formats during winter 2021/22.

The leaflet was also distributed manually by the 0 to 19 service in Wakefield (Mid-Yorkshire Hospital footprint) to the following:

posted to all new parents (babies born since February 2020)
posted to all parents whose children are due to start school in September 2021
distributed to networks via family hubs / children’s centres

What’s next?

Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership plans to test the leaflet out with parents again and continue to develop this vital resource to ensure it continues to meets local needs.

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