Published on: July 26, 2023
The admin team along with other team members at Compass’s Warwickshire School Nursing Service are completing a huge annual task to collect completed questionnaires from parents as their children go into reception classes across the county this September.
The Connect for Health (C4H) admin team, led by Andi Leach, has sent out 5,600 school readiness health questionnaires by email. With follow up emails, a social media campaign, posters and presentations, they have so far received 2,500 completed forms.
Hundreds more completed forms are expected throughout August and September.
Supporting the effort, C4H staff have attended more than 90 parent information evenings in schools to promote the questionnaire.
The online health information form asks simple questions such as Is your child registered with a GP, dentist or optician. Does the child have a disability, are they disabled, have asthma, epilepsy, allergies? It also asks about teeth brushing, using sun cream, portions of fruit and veg.
Andi said: “The questionnaire itself also gives parents and carers some signposting. The nurses have created a list of approved health websites which can provide quality information. Parent/carers can also contact the school nurse team if they want any further support.”
The contact details of parents and carers are provided to C4H by Warwickshire County Council.
Andi said: “It’s really nice for us to introduce ourselves as the school nursing team in Warwickshire so parents have got our contact details, directly from us right at the start.
“Between June and September we have a handover period with the health visitors. Everybody knows that there’s a health visitor. We’re just trying to get the message out there that when your children go to school, there is a school nurse and team that are also able to support you.
“We’re promoting the text messaging line so that people can just give us anonymous text messages, but also they know that our website is there for additional support and signposting. Or they can call us and they can get advice over the telephone with one of the nurses.”
Andi said she was proud of the admin team’s pivotal role in linking people in the community with the school nurses who can make a real difference to children and young people’s lives.
On a dedicated page on the Compass website about the questionnaire, service staff explain that the data from all the questionnaires is anonymised and compiled into school reports. These help school staff understand the health and wellbeing needs of their new intake of pupils. It can also be used to provide a local and regional overview of health needs helping agencies tailor support for families.
Andi added: “We love being able to be that lynchpin between the parents and the families and the school nurses and getting the support that they need to make sure that children are healthy.”
Karen Cornick, Service Manager at Connect for Health, said: “This promotional work is vital as it encourages parent/carers to complete the health questionnaire.
“Undertaking the school readiness health needs assessment is a large task for C4H.
“The programme is spearheaded by the Admin team making contact with parents and carers via email and this is then re-enforced by C4H staff attending multiple community events to promote the completion of the health questionnaire.
“The nurses are then in contact with parents and carers who have a health concern about their child, so it is a huge team effort which C4H are accomplished at”.