Southern Trust celebrates on year of Baby and Toddler Programme

by Gráinne Connolly

The Southern Health and Social Care Trust (Southern Trust) is celebrating one year of its Getting Ready for Baby and Getting Ready for Toddler programmes.

They were launched through the Early Intervention Transformation Programme (EITP). EITP, backed by a range of government departments and agencies, taht aims to improve outcomes for children and young people across Northern Ireland through embedding early intervention approaches.

Since it began last year, 577 women from across the area and many partners have taken part in the Getting Ready for Baby Programme which supports parents through pregnancy, preparing for labour and the early days of baby’s life.

For the first time in Northern Ireland, this new approach links clinical antenatal appointments with parenting group support as Patricia McStay, Head of Midwifery and Gynaecology for the Southern Trust explains:

“Having a baby is a very exciting time. Along with the physical changes the mother will experience, there is also a lot of new information for parents to absorb in preparation for their new arrival.

"Attending antenatal care is very important for the physical health and wellbeing of both mum and baby.

"However, we also now know that education classes are just as important in supporting parents to cope with pregnancy, birth and right through to the early days with their new arrival.

“One year on we are delighted with the response to the programme, we have had 308 babies born, parents are finding it much more convenient to combine their check-ups with antenatal education and the rates of normal deliveries and breastfeeding amongst participants are excellent.” 

(Celebrating one year of Getting Ready for Baby and Getting Ready for Toddler in the Southern area are:

Director of Acute Services for the Southern Trust Esther Gishkori, Head of Midwifery and Gynaecology, Patricia McStay, Head of Health Visiting and School Nursing, Julie McConville, Child Health System Manager, Valerie Doyle, EITP Administrator, Siofra Walsh, Child Development Interventions Co-ordinator, Martina McCooey.

Assistant Director of Family Support and Safeguarding, David Douglas, Principal of Drumnamoe Nursery School, Fiona McDonald, Director of Children and Young People’s Services, Paul Morgan, Michelle and Michael Fox who took part in the Getting Ready for Baby Programme with five month old Darcy, Public Health Agency’s Change Manager for EITP, Siobhan Slavin, Sarah Fisher, RISE Service Co-ordinator.

Health Visitors Paula Fitzsimmons and Nicola McAdam and Midwife Edel Magee.)
 

Getting Ready for Toddler was introduced in September to help give pre-school children the best start in life.

Each funded pre-school setting now has an aligned Health Visitor to work closely with teachers and parents and a new preschool Health Review has been introduced to address the gap between the previous two year assessment and the time children see a School Nurse in Primary One.

Julie McConville, Head of Health Visiting and School Nursing for the Southern Trust says:

“The preschool years are so important for a child’s social and emotional development and can have a significant impact on their future health and wellbeing. 

“We are delighted to team up with our preschool colleagues, combining our health visitors’ skills and experience with the teachers’ observations and detailed knowledge of the children in their day to day care along with parents views of their child’s development to make sure that any concerns are addressed at a much earlier stage and that all toddlers are getting the best start in life.”

Siobhan Slavin, the Public Health Agency’s (PHA) Change Manager for EITP said,

“We are delighted that Getting Ready For Baby and Getting Ready For Toddler has been so successful in the Southern Trust in its first year.

"The programmes have been successful across Northern Ireland equipping parents with the necessary skills to give their child the best start in life from the pregnancy, to birth and preschool development.”

The Public Health Agency leads the EITP Work Stream One ‘Getting Ready For Baby’ and ‘Getting Ready For Toddler’ throughout Northern Ireland and aims to improve outcomes for children and young people through embedding early intervention approaches.

The Early Intervention Transformation Programme is a Northern Ireland Executive/Atlantic Philanthropies Delivering Social Change Signature Programme, jointly funded by the Public Health Agency,  Delivering Social Change fund, DoH, DE, DoJ, DfC, DfE and The Atlantic Philanthropies.