All children and young people are able to access what is referred to as universal services - these are services that most people will be familiar with and they are often most people’s first point of contact.
Universal services include:
- health visitors
- school nurses
- doctors
- dentists
- opticians
- pharmacists
- hospitals
The Healthy Child Programme Service (0-19 years) integrates four areas in child health including:
- Health Visiting
- Infant Feeding Support
- Family Nurse Partnership (for teenage parents)
- School Nursing
The service is delivered by South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust.
The Health Visiting Team is a team of Health Visitors (qualified specialist community public health nurses) working in partnership with community Nursery Nurses, Infant Feeding Specialists and other professionals who support families in Solihull.
The team help to empower parents and carers to make decisions that affect their family’s health and well-being. They provide expert information, developmental assessments and interventions for babies, children and families along the parenthood journey - from before your baby is born until 5 years of age. Their role is focused on improving the health outcomes for children, the local community, wider populations and to support reducing inequalities.
Information for healthy happy early years in Solihull can be found on the Health for under 5s website.
The Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) is an intensive programme that supports first-time parents under 19 years from early pregnancy until their child is 2 years old.
In the UK, every child should be protected against preventable diseases and is entitled to free childhood immunisations. It is important that children are offered the chance to be vaccinated safely and effectively.
Information on why vaccination is safe and important can be found on the NHS website.
- Scheduled vaccinations (for ages 0-5, including MMR, 6 in 1 and others) are typically accessed via GP.
- Other school age vaccinations are typically offered via schools, or via GP if unable to access through that route by the School Age Immunisation Service. The immunisation team delivers routine national childhood Immunisations to children at school in Birmingham and Solihull, and to those that live within Birmingham and Solihull, offering protection against disease. Further details of their services can be found at Immunisation Services: Birmingham Community Healthcare website. They visit more than 600 locations across the area every year to offer immunisation services to children and young people. These venues include mainstream and special schools, behaviour support units, independent schools, patient homes, and health centre-based vaccination clinics.
Covid Vaccinations
- There is a current COVID offer for 6 months to 4 years clinically at risk, as well as any 5 year old who turns 5 on or after 1 July 2023; this is delivered through 6 hubs across Birmingham and Solihull, and an inter-seasonal offer for 5 years and over who are newly immunosuppressed. Parents of eligible children are being contacted pro-actively via the Bookings Team.
- The next COVID vaccination phase is expected to start early October, which will allow access for 5s and over who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID (evergreen offer), plus boosters for designated immunosuppressed, which we anticipate will include 5 years and over immunosuppressed.
School Nurses lead the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme to school age children (5-19 years) in mainstream schools, academies and Pupil Referral Units in Solihull.
The nurses measure heights and weights, conduct vision screening and health checks to all children at school entry, year 6 and year 9, responding to identified health needs.
There is a website specifically for primary aged children (aged 4-11years) and a site for teenagers at the following addresses:
There is a website specifically for teenagers at the following addresses:
Umbrella is a partnership, led by University Hospitals Birmingham, consisting of a number of community-based organisations, charities and health service providers, with the aim of improving the sexual health and wellbeing of the people of Birmingham and Solihull.
Birmingham Children’s Hospital is a leading UK specialist paediatric centre, offering expert care to 90,000 children and young people from across the country every year.