Growing Healthy 0-19 Cumberland

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for providing 0-19 services in Cumberland.

Single Point of contact telephone number: 0300 304 9029

The role of the 0-5 Service is to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of children under five and their families. The 5-19 team promotes and protects the health and wellbeing of all children and young people aged 5 to 19.

0-5 Children’s Service

All families with a child under five in Cumberland have access to a Growing Healthy 0-5 Team consisting of health visitors, Family Health Nurses, Child Development Practitioners. They provide expert health assessments, advice, support and interventions for babies, children and families. 

The team encourages and supports parents and carers to develop life-long skills to enable them to make informed choices that affect their family’s future health and wellbeing. 

The team are community-based and is accessible at a range of different venues including the family home, Family Hubs and community venues. The service works in partnership with other agencies to ensure all families receive individualised and appropriate support. 

Health Visitors

Health visitors are registered nurses or midwives who have an additional qualification in specialist community public health nursing. They are highly skilled in the assessment and co-ordination of support tailored to individual and family needs. 

The team aims to help build parents’ confidence in their ability to give their child the best start in life and listen carefully and support when parents have concerns. It identifies and builds on what is going well, and provides information to help parents find their own solutions to problems where possible. 

The Cumberland Growing Healthy 0-5 Service offers a programme of:

• Immunisation advice
• Developmental reviews
• Maternal and Infant Mental Health Support
• Information and guidance to support parenting and healthy lifestyle choices

Healthy Child Programme (HCP)

The Healthy Child Programme (HCP) is a public health programme for children, young people and families which focuses on early intervention and prevention. The HCP offers a programme of screening tests, immunisations, developmental reviews, information and guidance to support parenting and healthy lifestyle choices. 

The Healthy Child Programme contacts include:

* Contacts can be offered face to face at home or in clinic,  virtually or digitally, depending on the contact type and your individual circumstances, your health visitor will advise  prior to each contact. 

• Antenatal contact
• New birth visit at 10-14 days
• Contact at 6-8 weeks
• Contact at 3-4 months
• Contact at 6 month
• A child health review/development assessment by one year of age
• A child health review/development assessment by two and a half years of age
• A child health review/development assessment may be offered between 3-5 years

Some common areas of information and support:

• Pregnancy and transition into parenthood
• Infant feeding/ specialist breast feeding support
• Growth and nutrition
• Healthy eating
• Dental health
• Development
• Behaviour
• Accident prevention
• Safe sleeping
• Speech and language development
• Immunisations
• Common childhood illness/infection
• Safeguarding
• Postnatal depression and emotional wellbeing
• Parenting

Our service is delivered in partnership with a range of health, social and education organisations and teams including:

• CAMHS
• Early Help
• Early Years Education providers
• GPs/paediatricians
• Voluntary sector
• Sexual Health Services

Child health clinics

Child health and infant feeding clinics are held across Cumberland, see clinic tab at the top of the page. Clinic appointments can be booked via the Children’s Health Services App or by calling 0300 304 9029

Referral

The service accepts referrals from:

• Midwifery services
• GPs and other professionals
• Self-referral from parents/carers
• Other statutory and voluntary agencies

Cumberland SEND Local Offer

5-19 Healthy Child Service

We work with children, young people and families to empower and enable them to make informed decisions about health and to support them in transitioning safely and happily into adult life. The Cumberland Growing Healthy 5-19 Team works in the home and community settings to deliver universal and targeted interventions designed to meet public health outcomes. We ensure the emotional and physical health and wellbeing of families, children and young people across Cumberland.

We provide a service to all children and young people of school age, and their families, whether or not they are attending school. The service is based on the Healthy Child Programme from 5-19 years old. We offer advice and information and assess health needs on children entering school and on transfer to secondary schools. We are the first point of contact for schools when there are concerns about a child’s health and wellbeing.

We are also responsible for:

• Measuring and weighing children in reception and year 6 as part of the National Child Measurement Programme
• Universal screening for vision and audiology for reception children
• Providing first level enuresis (involuntary urination) advice and support
• Providing emotional health and wellbeing support
• Supporting children and families with additional health needs or disability
• Parenting and behavioural problems
• Risk taking behaviour including drugs and alcohol
• Stop smoking advice
• Relationships, sexual health and pregnancy
• Promoting healthy lifestyles in schools and communities through health education

Specialist advice and support will also be offered to:

Children in need of protection and their families; children and families in need; foster carers and children who are in care.

Growing Healthy Cumberland 5-19 Team

The team comprises specialist community public health nurses , community staff nurses , Public Health Practitioner, school screeners and health administrators.

We work closely with Health Visitors so that children and families with complex health and social care needs are identified early. We support the development and implementation of health management plans to promote the child’s health and wellbeing, school attendance, education and attainment.

When young people and families require targeted interventions, these may be provided solely by the 5-19 team.

Head of Nursing – Carly Dodsworth

Vision Information

Why eye checks are important

The sooner any eye problem is found, the sooner you and your child will be able to get any treatment and support needed.

Children may not realise they have a vision problem so, without routine tests, there’s a risk a problem may not be spotted. This may affect their development and education.

Around 4 or 5 years old

Your child’s eyes may be examined soon after they start school. This is called vision screening and it checks for reduced vision in one or both eyes. The aim is to detect any problems early so that treatment can be given if needed.

Vision screening is usually carried out in your child’s school. However, this does not happen in all areas. If your child’s vision is not checked at school, take them to your local opticians for an eye examination.

Read more about vision screening for 4 to 5 year olds (PDF, 1.54Mb).

Speak to a GP or go to an opticians if you have any concerns about your child’s vision at any stage.

Snellen and LogMAR charts

When your child can recognise or match letters, their vision is tested using charts that have rows of letters and numbers of decreasing sizes.

Your child will be asked to read out or match the letters they can see from a specific distance. These charts are called Snellen or LogMAR charts.

Spotting signs of an eye problem

Although your child should have regular eye tests as they grow up, it’s still important to look out for signs of any problems and get advice if you have any concerns.

For babies, the checklist in your baby’s personal child health record (red book) can be used to help you check if your child’s vision is developing normally.

In older children, signs of a possible eye problem can include:

• the eyes not pointing in the same direction
• complaining of headaches or eye strain
• problems reading – for example, they may need to hold books close to their face and they may lose their place regularly
• problems with hand-eye co-ordination – for example, they may struggle to play ball games
• being unusually clumsy
• regularly rubbing their eyes
• sitting too close to the TV

Speak to a GP or go to an opticians if you have any concerns about your child’s eyes or vision. The earlier a problem is picked up the better.

Children can have an eyesight test at any age. They do not need to be able to read, or even speak. An eyesight test is particularly important if there’s a history of childhood eye problems, such as squint or lazy eye, in your family.

Teens and Young Adults

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