Improving health and wellbeing
Swansea Bay UHB; Swansea Council - To Reduce Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Penderi Cluster, Leading to Implementation and Review of ‘Primary Care Child and Family Wellbeing Service’
The Penderi Cluster received a presentation by Public Health Wales on its work through the WHO Healthy Cities programme (Swansea), working jointly with The Marmot Team (UCL); it evidenced that a poor start in life affects children’s health well into adulthood. It was recommended through the Public Service Board that action be taken to reduce health inequalities, starting before birth and to be followed through the life of the child.
A service improvement approach was employed, adapted from experience in delivery of a national pacesetter. Local stakeholders in Education, the Local Authority, Public Health and relevant Cluster members met to consider how to address the causes and long-term societal effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences.
Options were sourced for development of a resource within a single Cluster to enable testing, and concluded that investment in a non-medical model, focusing on symptoms synonymous with anxiety/stress type behaviours linked to family /environmental factors, could have a significant impact on patient health and wellbeing.
The Cluster co-funded and developed a Penderi ‘Primary Care Child and Family Wellbeing service’, which would offer up to 12 sessions, designed to deliver an innovative, integrated approach to supporting the needs of children under 11 and their parents/carers and families in their own homes.
A strength-based model of intervention was developed which focused on whole family needs, eliciting motivation for change, enhancing parenting skills and parental confidence, supporting wellbeing, and reducing anxiety and depression.
Following pilot success in the Penderi Cluster, the service model was rolled out across three cluster networks in April 2018. 128 families were supported during the first year of delivery, which has increased capacity for GPs to be able to deliver more appropriate, complex care. 100% of families report an improvement in all areas of their wellbeing.
