Summary

We want to hear from parents and carers of children age 0-5 on their experiences of accessing services and support in Shropshire (including parent carers of children with Special Education Needs and Disability). Your experiences are important to us and help us understand how effective services are in meeting the needs of children in the early years and their caregivers. Your feedback will be used to inform any future development of Shropshire’s Best Start for Life offers, including the Healthy Child Programme.

Background 

Shropshire is transforming the way services are delivered to children and their families, through a range of projects which sit within The Shropshire Plan including the Best Start for Life programme.

Shropshire Council recognises that giving every child the Best Start in Life is imperative to reducing inequalities across the life course. Evidence tells us that the first 1001 days of a child’s life, from conception until a child reaches 2, are critical to child development and health and wellbeing outcomes in later life. A major contribution to achieving these ambitions and strategies is the modernisation of an evidence-based Healthy Child Programme that is universal in reach and personalised in response to the health needs of every family and child.

The Healthy Child Programme is made up of the Health Visiting Service which supports pregnancy and the first 5 years of life and the Public Health School Nursing Service which supports children from 5-19 (up to age 25 for those with SEND). Additionally, Shropshire’s Family Nurse Partnership provides a home visiting programme for first-time young mums and their families from pregnancy until their child reaches 2 years of age. Universal in reach, the modernised Healthy Child Programme is available to all children and works to ensure every child has the best start in life through promoting good health, wellbeing and resilience. The programme is delivered to promote every aspect of child development inclusive of physical, intellectual, and emotional outcomes which aims to reduce inequalities and ensure that no child is left behind.

Aim

The results from this survey will be used to inform the early years chapter of Shropshire Council’s Children and Young People Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) is a process by which local authorities and integrated care systems assess the current and future health, care and wellbeing needs of the local community to inform local decision making. The children and young people’s JSNA will be developed with the support of partners across Shropshire to bring together data and intelligence relating to the health and wellbeing of local children, young people and families. It is our vision that the Children and Young People JSNA will inform the direction and development of services across health, social and wider community services in Shropshire. Capturing the voice of our local Children, Young People and their Families is essential to the success of this JSNA and a series of engagement activities will be undertaken.

JSNA Design  

Due to the vast scope of Shropshire’s Children and Young people JSNA, it will be structured as a ‘JSNA pack’, comprising of individual chapters for each stage of the life course:

1. Population and context for children and young people
2. Maternity (pregnancy & birth)
3. Early Years (0-4 years)
4. School aged children (5-11 and 11-16 years)
5. Young people (16-19 years)

Facilitated by Public Health/Shropshire Council: 

• Jessica Edwards, Senior Public Health Intelligence Analyst 
  Jess.Edwards@shropshire.gov.uk
• Stephanie Jones, Healthy Child Programme Coordinator 
  Steph.Jones@shropshire.gov.uk

We've provided a survey as a way of collecting feedback. Just click on the 'How to get involved' tab on this page to find the survey link.

If you'd like a survey in an alternative format please use the email below to request a copy.

You can also respond with any comments in writing:

• Email: TellUs@shropshire.gov.uk
• Post: Feedback and Insight team, Shropshire Council, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6ND.