The report of the Director of Public Health (Document “X”) sets out in brief the demographics of the population of Children in Bradford District, then goes on to discuss the Public Health 0-19 Children’s Service and give an update on the recent performance of the service. The paper comprises:

-       Demographics

-       The Healthy Child Programme

-       The Public Health 0-19 Children’s Service in Bradford District

-       Performance of the Public Health 0-19 Children’s Service

o   Health Visiting

o   School Nursing Developments

o   School Nursing Performance

o   Workforce

Recommended –

(1)       Members are kindly requested to note the comments of the report and the progress made by BDCFT in the delivery of the Public Health 0-19 Children’s Service.

(2)       Members are asked for comments and feedback on the progress to date.

(Sarah Exall – 07855 177158)

The report of the Director of Public Health (Document “X”) set out in brief the demographics of the population of Children in Bradford District, then went on to discuss the Public Health 0-19 Children’s Service and give an update on the recent performance of the service. The paper comprised:

·         Demographics

·         The Healthy Child Programme

·         The Public Health 0-19 Children’s Service in Bradford District

·         Performance of the Public Health 0-19 Children’s Service

o   Health Visiting

o   School Nursing Developments 21 - 38

o   School Nursing Performance

o   Workforce

The Director of Public Health presented the report. She explained that early support in infancy and childhood was known to improve life-long health and wellbeing. The Public Health 0-19 Children’s Service in Bradford consists of Health Visiting, School Nursing, and Oral Health promotion, and delivered the national evidence-based Healthy Child Programme. This was aimed at improving the health, wellbeing and development of children aged from birth to the age of 19, and up to the age of 25 for young people with Special Educational Needs and/ or Disabilities (SEND). This paper provided an overview of the Health Child Programme and update on the performance of the current service, including progress against the recent additional investment.

Proceeding the presentation, a question and answer (Q&A) session ensued:

·         How would this be resourced financially?

o   The total Public Health financial envelope for Public Health 0-19 Children’s Services in Bradford was £11,784,281 per annum. This as fully funded by the Public Health Ring-Fenced Grant and recurrently available. It was anticipated that NHS pay uplift would be funded through a specific increase to the Public Health grant and would be passed to the provider organisation where appropriate. The Contract end date was 31 March 2024 with an option to extend by a further 12 months;

·         How would the team be funded?

o   This team was originally established by BDCFT and funded from non-recurrent monies within the service. The investment from Public Health enabled the team to be retained on a permanent basis;

·         What was the core objective of the Vulnerable Children Information Team?

o   This team are responsible for providing Public Health nursing input to acute Strategy Discussion meetings for children at risk of immediate and significant harm. This is a statutory requirement which previously the service had struggled to meet. It involves responding to meeting requests, reviewing a child’s clinical record, attending the meeting and contributing to the multi-agency decision-making to regarding a child’s safety. Clinical records are then updated. The Vulnerable Children Information Team also work to provide detailed and timely responses to Social Workers requesting health information;

·         What was the impact of Covide-19 on the service?

o   Bradford District Care Foundation Trust (BDCFT) held the current Contract for the Public Health 0-19 Children’s Service since 1st August 2019. The new Contract was in early stages of delivery and transformation when the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, resulting in a significant impact on plans and delivery. The Service had experienced other challenges during the current contract, including a reduction in overall value of the contract in 2019, increasing safeguarding needs, and staffing challenges caused by recruitment issues and a national shortages of experienced health visitors and school nurses. This all led to significant challenges for the service in delivering some core public health and health promotion activities; and,

·         Information on the workforce was sought?

o   There had been significant workforce challenges in the School Nursing and Health Visiting service, in particular with the recruitment of Band 6 School Nurses. This had been exacerbated by a National shortage of qualified staff and an older workforce profile in Bradford, meaning that a number of colleagues had retired. To mitigate this risk, the Service had focused on recruitment, retention and resilience. As a result, additional skill mix into the service with posts now ranged from Band 3, Community Nursery Nurses (Band 4), Staff Nurses (Band 5), School Nurses and Health Visitors (Band 6).

Resolved:-

That the report be noted and that a further performance update be presented in 12 months’ time.

Action: Director of Public Health