The Healthy Child Service

The role of the Healthy Child Service is to deliver the Healthy Child Programme for children aged 0-19 years and their families.

Some of the services within it are for all children, such as health visiting. Some are targeted to those most in need, such as vulnerable families and children and young people with emotional health support needs.

There are four pillars in the service:

  • 0-6 Pillar
  • The Infant Feeding, Family Diet and Nutrition Pillar
  • The Emotional Health and Resilience Pillar
  • The Safeguarding and Children in Care Pillar

There are three levels of service:

  • Universal – Universal services are essential for keeping children safe, have a focus on prevention and are available to all, this level of service offers support to parents at key times.
  • Targeted – Targeted services is the delivery of early intervention, evidence-based programmes are delivered to meet needs in a timely way. This is when specific expert help is needed.
  • Specialist – Specialist services are for children and young people whose needs cannot be met through universal and targeted provisions, this provides ongoing support in partnership with other services to deal with more complex issues over a period of time.

We have a Single Point of Contact where parents, carers and professionals can contact the 0-19 Healthy Child Service directly for information by calling 03003 030 916.

Each pillar delivers a different aspect of the service:

The 0-6 Pillar

The 0-6 pillar delivers contacts to all families with a baby/ child aged 0-6 with the first contact being before the birth of your baby. The service is delivered both face-to face and through a virtual platform of MS Teams. There is evidence to show that helping children with their early year’s development, school readiness and emotional wellbeing gives them the best start in life.

Anyone who is pregnant or has a child up to the age of 6 years will have a named Health Visitor.

We have a Single Point of Contact where Parents, carers and professionals can contact their local 0-6 Healthy Child Service (Health Visiting Team) directly for information by calling 03003 030 916.

The Infant Feeding, Family Diet and Nutrition Pillar

This pillar offers breast feeding support through proactive telephone calls and breastfeeding support groups.

There are workshops delivered about introducing solids.

Groups to support healthy diet and lifestyle for families.

Measurements for the National Child Measurement Programme are recorded by the team in schools for children in Reception and year 6.

The Emotional Health and Resilience Pillar

Requests for support and referrals are accepted from professionals, parents and self-referrals for children and young people aged 6-19 for:

  • Low mood
  • Anger
  • Anxiety
  • Self-esteem
  • Building resilience
  • Managing Emotions
  • Behaviour Management linked to emotional health concern

Following a referral into the team a nurse will undertake an assessment which builds on the information provided as part of the referral. This health assessment includes reviewing: development; risk indicators; advice; family health needs assessment; voice of the child; analysis; agreeing a plan and actions and outcomes.

Support and Intervention

Targeted support is offered, low level interventions over 6- 8 sessions delivering face to face or virtual work to support anxiety, anger, self-esteem, bullying and low mood.

Children’s Psychological Wellbeing practitioners support children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties and their families in the self-management of presenting difficulties.  Providing a range of information and support for evidence based psychological treatments.

  • A copy of the Emotional Health and Resilience referral form and supporting information can be found here:


The Safeguarding and Children in Care Pillar

This team delivers targeted and specialist support to children and young people aged 6-19, this includes assessments and capturing the lived experience of children and young people to share their views and to access the correct services and support to promote safety and wellbeing.

The team work with children, young people, and families as well as other professionals to provide support to safeguard children and children in care.

Contacts

The North Yorkshire 0-6 Children’s Service can be contacted Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, excluding bank holidays.

A Single Point of Contact telephone number is in place for the North Yorkshire 0-6 Children’s Service team. This telephone number is: 0300 303 0916