What's new on Healthier Together

Last update: 01.08.2022

Healthier Together App

Co-designed by GP and parents, this offers an easy to use self-triage tool to parents and carers when they are seeking a healthcare consultation. Parents will be taken through red and amber symptoms/signs for the symptom they are concerned about. 70% of children will have no red or amber symptoms and the families will be provided with self-care information as well as safety netting guidance. If children have red features, they will be signposted to urgent review in an ED setting. For children with amber features, they will be signposted to primary care services (or NHS 111 out of hours). For GP practices that have onboarded with the app, these parents will be able to send message directly to the practice with information about their child's symptoms and signs. The availability of this functionality is likely to encourage parents to use the app, with the majority being reassured enough to no longer seek a consultations by the information provided with the app. For practices wishing to onboard with the app, click here

Dr RanjVideos and easy read content

Created as part of a suite of resources to improve accessibility to the content of the website for non-English speaking parents and parents with learning difficulties. Videos, translated content and easy read content have been produced for a number of parent facing pages (fever, difficulty beathing and wheeze, bronchiolitis etc). There are being actively promoted via social media as well as by voluntary sector organisations across Wessex.

Chronic illness videos for parents

We have worked with consultants across Wessex to produce videos on chronic illnesses including asthma, eczema and constipation. You can signpost parents to them using the SMS share function after a consultation to reinforce the information you have provided during the consultation. 

Local services map

 Social determinants of health are known to significantly contribute to the health and wellbeing of children and young people. We have worked with local authority and voluntary sector colleagues to populate a local services map including information on housing support, food banks, substance abuse and domestic abuse. The map will be accompanied by a self-assessment tool that parents can use to identify areas that they need support and how to easily access it.

Our local services page has a new look with the services now divided clearly by region and there is more of a focus on services outside of regular healthcare including food banks, asylum seeker support and local libraries. This in align with our accessibility strategy goals for 2022.

Recite Me

Another addition to our accessibility improvement is the addition of Recite Me to the website which is able to translate pages and read the text in many different languages. The tool also offers support for visually impaired through changing font sizes, colours and backgrounds.

Find out more about the service here.

Resources for teachers / schools

We are working closely with schools to deliver consistent messages about physical health issues, healthy weight and mental health and wellbeing to all children from key stages 1 to 4. These are aligned with current national priorities and will be delivered as part of the PSHE curriculum. See here. 

Parent health literacy workshops

We have developed resources to deliver common illness workshops (fever, cough/cold and D&V). These have been co-designed with parents / carers. They will be implemented within voluntary sector organisations across HIOW and could also be used by primary care social prescribers. Additional workshops are being produced on mental health and emotional wellbeing and on pregnancy.

Parent / family support tool

To support parents / families during these challenging times, we have developed a tool that parents can use themselves or a professional can go through with a family. It is fully translatable and provides support and guidance about issues related to housing, finances, family life, drugs and alcohol, physical and mental health, school, child safety and pregnancy. It has been developed in partnership with Portsmouth City Council and co-designed by parents.

 
 
New Pages (newest at the top)

Parent / family support tool

Worried about daily life (keeping your house warm, housing, damp and mould and money worries)

Tics and Tourette's Syndrome

Arm injury 

Leg injury

Paramedic pathways

Infection screening for asylum seeking unaccompanied children and recent arrivals from Ukraine

Nose bleeds

Abdominal pain - what to expect after birth

Headaches after you have had your baby

My baby has sticky eye

My baby has a hernia

How to give your child liquid medicines

Teaching your child to swallow tablets

Swallowed a foreign object 

Paediatric pathway - Musculoskeletal presentations (chronic) in babies and children

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