They have been shortlisted for the ‘Public Health Nursing’ category which throws the spotlight on the important role the nursing profession plays in promoting and protecting the public’s health whilst addressing health inequalities.
The shortlisting recognises the success of a multi-organisational pilot which was recently extended to include health and focusses on supporting vulnerable children.
Ensuring the integral role of health being included in the initial sharing of information around domestic abuse was led by Newcastle’s 0-19 service by early involvement in Operation Encompass.
The initiative has made an enormous difference to the families involved demonstrating the value and trust they have in the 0-19 services team, as well as a unique opportunity to engage with parents on a range of public health issues.
Cheryl Teasdale, Associate Director of Nursing for Community Services said: “This fantastic project fills me with immense pride for the team, ensuring the children and families of Newcastle and receive much needed support and collaborative response at the earliest opportunity.
“The dedicated and innovative thinking of Becky who has led this project has led to improved health and wellbeing of those in need, which is the epitome of their work as health visitors. I know this project has given the team immense satisfaction in making a difference now and in the future.
“The sharing of this project at a national level, allows sharing and implementation across the UK, and therefore is such a worthy finalist in the Nursing Times Awards. Best of luck to the team – you thoroughly deserve it.”
Marie Huscroft, Matron and 0-19 Service Lead added: “I am so proud of the team. This project has been a fantastically well thought out piece of work developed in response to a change in a system. The project led by Becky always sought to ensure that the babies, children and young people of Newcastle were prioritised in their collaborative response.
“I am very proud of the team for their dedication to this work.”
Being recognised as finalists at the Nursing Times awards is thoroughly deserved as this show cases their innovation and passion to achieve better outcomes for the children in Newcastle.
Marie Huscroft, Matron and 0-19 Service Lead
The driver for change
Operation Encompass was introduced in 2011 with the aim of reducing the long-term impacts of domestic abuse by providing early intervention and support through an ‘early information safeguarding’ partnership between the police and education with the school’s safeguarding lead then able to offer immediate support to the child who has experienced domestic abuse.
The new pilot came about following a revision to Operation Encompass’s protocols in April 2022 recommending that ‘Cause for Concern Notifications’ (CCNs) – ie. information on incidents of domestic abuse at a home where a child or children were present – should also be shared with all healthcare professionals involved with the family – in particular their health visiting team – in addition to their school.
This change, whilst much welcomed, led to staff in the 0-19 service receiving hundreds of CCNs every day. They found themselves trying to keep on top of the high volume of paperwork, documenting the outcome of every police call out, yet what they wanted to do was to provide immediate support for these families.
Rebecca Humphreys, specialist health visitor for complex and vulnerable families explains: “The team became increasingly frustrated at learning about these incidents well after the event rather than being involved at the earliest opportunity so that we could proactively reach out to offer support to the families.”
Given that children are now recognised in their own right as a victim of domestic abuse (reference: Domestic Abuse Bill 2022) the team were keen to try a new approach they had devised.
Rebecca continues: “After discussing our proposal with Operation Encompass colleagues, it was agreed that we could run a three month trial whereby a team of three of our nurses would sit with police colleagues, the local authority’s children’s social care team manager and the Early Help manager to discuss each report.
“It became immediately apparent that our team recognised many of the families as having an ongoing relationship with a health visitor.
We felt passionately that we could offer support to the families known to them almost at the point of the cause of concern being raised. We knew we could make a real difference.
Rebecca Humphreys, specialist health visitor for complex and vulnerable families
Newcastle’s 0-19 service led on the establishment of set criteria so that any family already known to a health visitor or antenatal practitioner who was felt would benefit from early intervention would be contacted by a member of the team within 24 hours of the police CCN to offer support.
Overwhelmingly positive feedback
Both the families and staff responded extremely well to the trial. Rebecca says “During the evaluation I contacted parents and we also sought feedback from our staff. Everyone was overwhelmingly in favour of the named health visitor or specialist nurse contacting them in the first instance following a domestic abuse incident rather than an early help advisor or social worker.
“Our pilot has clearly demonstrated how much the families place value on the relationship they have with their health visitor which is based on trust and empowerment.”
Rebecca adds “We’re delighted the initiative has been so positive. This approach full supports a key vision of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care published in 2022 – “A Revelation in Family Help” which highlights the need to streamline early intervention and for consistent, transparent and non-stigmatising support.”
Unexpected public health benefits
Whilst all feedback has been incredibly encouraging and exactly what the team had hoped for, what they didn’t expect were the equally positive public health outcomes.
Whilst speaking to their health visitor, families were able to raise concerns and seek support with a range of issues such as immunisations, child development issues and dental health needs.
Parents were also encouraged and felt safe and able to discuss their own mental health needs with their health visitor able to make referrals onto specialist support and also drug and alcohol services where appropriate.
Rebecca adds “It will be very interesting to re evaluate the cases in a further 12 months to see if the families continue to request the support from the service at an early intervention stage rather than waiting for crisis point, which is the basis of early family help.”
The team intends to share this model with the Institute of Health visiting, NHS England for Safeguarding Week, Operation Encompass, Northern Child Health Networks and the National Family Hub Networks.
Nursing Times Award – ‘Public Health Nursing’ criteria:
This new award category recognises the important role that the nursing profession plays in promoting and protecting the public’s health whilst addressing health inequalities and seeks clear demonstration of how the leadership of specialist public health nurses, such as health visitors, school nurses and health protection practitioners has made an important improvement, steering the initiative as part of a multidisciplinary team.
Public health issues include smoking cessation, sexual health, tackling obesity, to promoting uptake of immunisations and screening programmes and often involves playing a vital role working across the health and care system – the NHS, local government, social care or independent sector.
Nursing Times Awards 2023
These awards bring together the nursing community to shine a light on the brightest talent in the profession and recognise those of you making nursing innovative, patient-focused and inclusive.
There are 23 categories covering a wide range of nursing specialities, all open to entries from individuals and teams, or nominations from those who wish to highlight a nurse or team who they believe deserves recognition.
The awards ceremony will take place in London on Wednesday 25 October 2023 – we wish all of our Finalists the very best of luck.
