Consultation: The Healthy Child Programme

The current contract to provide the Healthy Child Programme is due to end in early 2025 and the council has decided now is the time to redesign the service and explore where improvements can be made.

The council is consulting with families and professionals across Westmorland and Furness to share the changes we would like to see and give you a chance to have your say on how the services are delivered in the future.

What is the Healthy Child Programme?

Our model is based on the National Healthy Child Programme Guidance (2023)

The Healthy Child Programme (HCP) offers every family a programme of interventions, including screening tests, immunisations, developmental reviews, and information and guidance to support parents, children, and young people to grow, develop and thrive.

The Healthy Child Programme is for all, building healthy communities for families and children, reducing inequalities and vulnerabilities. It includes a range of activity from universal services for all through to intensive support.

The Healthy Child Programme needs the support and contribution from a range of delivery partners such as Early Help Services, midwifery services and the community and voluntary sector to ensure there is clear, seamless offer of support for children and families.

The funding for Healthy Child Programme is part of The Public Health Grant which is set annually by central government.

Why do we want to change how we deliver the Healthy Child programme in Westmorland and Furness?

The 0-19 Healthy Child Programme (HCP) contract with our current external provider ends in March 2025.

There are significant challenges with the consistency of current delivery across the footprint and the capacity to meet the varying levels of need across the 0-19 age range.

Our research (including our recent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)) has shown the changing and diverse needs within our communities.

The end of the current contract gives us the opportunity to think differently about how we deliver our services – it’s flexibility, accessibility, and responsiveness. We want to use all methods of delivery including digital and outreach - building on our community assets.

We want our new Healthy Child Programme to make the best use of our budget by prioritising the areas for delivery which we’ve identified through our data and engagement with children, young people, families, and partners.

We have some excellent relationships with partners and integrated ways of working across the three ‘districts’, which we want to develop and embed across the whole Westmorland and Furness Council area.

We are committed to Trauma Informed Practice and embedding this across the HCP.

We want our new contract will have clear outcomes, which will demonstrate the impact and difference for children and families.

Download more detailed information on our proposals (will open in a new window).
How we are proposing to change our HCP offer.

We have chosen to split the model into 3 ‘pillars’:
  • 0-5 Health Visiting
  • 5-19 Public Health Nursing
  • Strengthening Families
There will be clear links and pathways between the pillars. Families will be supported if they need to move between or access services across each of these different pillars.

We feel these three pillars will make it clear to families, children, and young people what the HCP service offers for different ages and making sure they can access the right support for them at the right time, in the right way.

What’s different?
  • Key priorities and issues will focus on improving outcomes, and performance will be closely monitored
  • Clarity of service offer including boundaries and limitations
  • Increased universal offer through additional community outreach
  • Improved antenatal offer including vulnerable antenatal pathway
  • Increased capacity for 5-19 Public Health Nursing to offer Early Help support
  • Refocus of Strengthening Families – utilising expertise earlier to prevent escalation and including offering support for 5-19 complex early help upwards
  • All 0-5 cases which are not receiving an intervention from Strengthening Families will remain on the Health Visitor caseload
  • Utilising and increasing capacity and the skill mix at different Grades/Bands to make the most of skills and expertise across 0-19 HCP
  • Improved technology enabling better use of time
  • Improved healthy weight and oral health offer
  • 5-year-old vision screening no longer delivered in schools; clear promotion and signposting to local opticians will be in place
Contact familylife@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk if you’d like more information before completing this survey.

Please tell us what you think by answering the few short questions below:

Question Title

* 1. To what extent do you agree with our reasons for changing our approach to HCP?

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* 2. To what extent do you agree with our proposals for the new service?

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* 3. We identified 5 focus areas for the 0-5 Health Visiting Service pillar of the HCP. To what extent do you agree with the proposed delivery of each of the areas:

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
Early Years
Parenting/ relationships
SEND
Health and wellbeing
Emotional wellbeing and mental health

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* 4. We identified 6 focus areas for the 5-19 Public Health Nursing (including National Child Measurement Programme) pillar of the HCP. To what extent do you agree with the proposed delivery of each of the areas:

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
Early Years
Parenting/ relationships
SEND/ Health needs
Health and wellbeing
Emotional wellbeing and mental health
Whole school

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* 5. We identified 5 focus areas for Strengthening Families pillar of the HCP. To what extent do you agree with the proposed delivery of each of the areas:

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
Early Years/Attachment
Parenting/ relationships
SEND/ Health needs
Health and wellbeing
Emotional wellbeing and mental health

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* 6. Do you have any other comments?

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