Agenda item

Report ECHS19009

The Board considered a report by Dr Jenny Selway, Consultant in Public Health Medicine outlining work being undertaken to commission the 0-19 years Public Health Nursing Service from 1^st October 2020.

The Health Support to Schools service had two elements comprising safeguarding nursing support and strategic health to schools which aimed to minimise the risks of children with health conditions in schools.  In November 2018, the Council’s Executive agreed to extend the existing Health Support to Schools contract for 18 months to align it with the Health Visiting contract.  Schools had been working hard to put individual health care plans in place for all children and young people with identified health needs, and there were now more than 2000 individual health care plans in place for children and young people in Bromley schools.  Work was also being undertaken with the Head of School Nursing to review the questionnaire used by schools to identify children and young people’s health needs.  It was planned to commission a joint 0-19 years Public Health Nursing Service from 1^st October 2020, and this was being supported by a multi-agency steering group working to develop the service specification.

In considering the report, the Chairman was pleased to note that the needs of children and young people being electively home educated were being included in the work to develop the specification for the new joint service, and the Consultant in Public Health Medicine confirmed that elective home education continued to be a priority area, with 280 electively home educated children and young people resident in the Borough.  When the Health Support to Schools contract was extended, provision had been made to reintroduce a dedicated school nurse for electively home educated children and young people which would initially be focused on new pupils and unannounced home visits would also be undertaken by the school nurse where families chose not to engage with the service. 

In response to a question from a Member, the Consultant in Public Health Medicine explained that at approximately 10%, the smoking rates in young people in Bromley were higher than the London and national rates and that this was disproportionately affecting areas of highest deprivation.  This was part of a wider trend of risky behaviour by young people in the Borough which had been identified by the Children’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2019, and a survey was being developed to provide a baseline for the health of secondary-aged pupils which would support effective targeting of future services.  A Member noted the mismatch between the perception of crime and violence and the reality for young people in Bromley, and the Consultant in Public Health Medicine confirmed that young people had a high awareness of issues such as knife crime and violence and that this would be further explored within the survey. 

The School Nursing Team was providing support to General Practitioners on safeguarding and was prioritising those GP practices with the highest number of patients with Child Protection Plans.  The reference in the report to 125 young people aged 16-21 years accepted as homeless by the Local Authority in 2016/17 was a technical definition used by the Housing Department.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.