Young people's reflections on being involved in the planning and delivery of their health

services.

Chloe, Sean, Abi, Steph & Katie-Lou

Investing in Children

• Created in 1995 as a partnership between Durham County Council and the NHS.

• Promotes the human rights of children and young people.

• Supports children and young people to be involved in the design and evaluation of public services.

Darlington Health Group: Our Involvement

Investing in Children was asked by the Darlington's Health and Wellbeing Board to run a series of Agenda Days for children and young people living in Darlington. The aim of the Agenda Days was to gain the views and opinions of the children and young people on the following issues that the PCT are trying to address:•Obesity•Physical Activities•Alcohol •Smoking

What we did

We (The Darlington Health Group) looked at the four issues and came up with a series of questions we felt that children and young people would understand and be able to comment on. We contacted local organisations to see if we could run the Agenda Days in their project/school. In total 84 children and young people attended and gave their views.This is what they said:

Obesity• Obesity - Being overweight is an issue for most children and young

people in Darlington. They said young people get concerned with their weight mainly when they first start comprehensive school (aged 11/12) and when they become a teenager and start to worry about how they look.

• They said that the cost of eating healthily is too high.• Everyone was aware of the risks from eating unhealthy food and said

there is plenty information out there about this, however said they still choose to do so because it is cheap and convenient.

• Most of the young people said they choose what they have to eat and that you have more choice the older you get.

• Some of the young people suggested that it is easier for young people to access activities and more help with diet plans etc…

• More needs to be done to make healthy food cheaper as young people know what they need to eat to stay healthy but the cost of healthy food is an issue.

Obesity: Recommendations.All of the young people we spoke to said that they

are fully aware of what they should be doing to stay healthy and stop obesity.

They all said that in order to tackle obesity:•Healthy foods needs to be cheaper there should be cheap or free activities for children and young people to access.

•They also said they need more help to create healthy diet plans if you choose to eat healthily.

Physical Activity.• The majority of the young people said they mainly take

part in physical activities through their school.• The cost of activities is a major issue and barrier for

children and young people living in Darlington. • It is also an issue for young people with a disability

accessing the activities.• Transport is an issue for all children and young people.• Lots of comments where said about young people not

doing as much these days because of Xbox’s and PlayStations

• Activities are not publicised enough in the local area as most young people were unaware what was currently on offer.

Physical Activity: Recommendations.All of the young people talked about the cost of being able to

access activities and things that will keep them healthy. They said that this is a major barrier for young people in Darlington. They would like to recommend that:•Activities are made more accessible. There should be free or cheaper activities on offer close to the areas where they live. (One example given was having free trials at local gyms for young people).•They also mentioned how they are unaware of what is on in their area and rely solely on word of mouth to find out about things. •Activities should be promoted in the variety of ways such as on social networking sites, in local shops and through youth workers etc…

Alcohol.• Everyone we spoke to said Alcohol is an issue for young people and that lots

of young people change in a negative way when they drink.• Most did not feel binge drinking was a problem, however did say they drink

more than what is recommended for an adult.• They all said that it is easy for young people to get a hold of alcohol.• We asked young people how they get alcohol and can afford it and were

told:• They save up their dinner money to buy it or lie about why they need

money from their parents/guardians. • They also said that lots of parents buy them the drink or ask someone

older to get it for them• Some young people said they borrow older peoples ID to go drinking.

• They all said that there is already lots of information out there about the risks and that regardless of the risks young people will still choose to drink.

• Unprotected sex whilst under the influence is a real concern and most young people said they took more risks when under the influence.

Alcohol: Recommendations.Risk Taking behaviour was the biggest concern the young people had

when alcohol was involved. Over half said that they know young people that take risks whilst under the influence and the biggest risk was having unprotected sex. They all felt this needs addressing as more and more young people are taking the risk now. Doctors – During discussions with the young people regarding where they would go for support it was identified that 95% of the pupils had concerns regarding accessing their doctor’s surgeries. They all felt that they were not young people friendly and would be the last place they would go to for help and support.We feel this should be looked into further and involve young people in how they could make them more young people friendly and a service for all. Shops – Quite a few young people said that there should be stricter rules for shops when selling alcohol. More things like mystery shopping should take place to see if shops are selling alcohol illegally.

Smoking.• Smoking is also a major issue for young people in

Darlington. Lots of young people smoke regardless of the risks it has on them.

• Concerns were raised regarding passive smoking and the young people felt more should be done around this.

• They also said that children trying smoking is getting younger (some as young as 10 years old) and is a concern for them.

• Children and Young People smoke regardless of the risks.

Smoking: Recommendations.They would like to recommend that:

•Targeted work needs to take place in local primary schools to try and educate children on the risks of smoking at an earlier age and steer them away from trying it/or smoking at such a young age. •Stopping smoking – They would like to recommend more support is available to children and young people to stop smoking.

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Mystery Shopping.The PCT asked us to carry out an evaluation on 5 level 2

CASH services. We approached sexual health services to carry out a mystery shop to find out how young people were treated and to look at different aspects of the services. Pairs of young people in the group went into a range of surgeries in different areas across County Durham. When we tried to access the surgeries we found there were some complications – information such as opening times and directions were not easily accessible and when we did find them on the website it hadn’t been updated with dates and times of the clinics.In the clinics everyone noted things, such as accessibility and friendliness of staff.

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Young People’s Involvement in Interviews

Young people were involved in IAPT (Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies) interviews for new workers.

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The Diabetes Group..

How the group started…….

In 2001 Investing in Children started to work with children and young people who had type one diabetes.

We wanted to look at other hospitals’ clinics and facilities to see how hospitals in Co. Durham and Darlington could be improved.

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What happened next?

Dr Lamb suggested visiting a clinic in Uddevalla in Sweden run by world-renowned paediatric consultant Ragnar Hanas, because this clinic has one of the most successful rates for controlling young people’s blood/sugar through insulin pumps.

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The Outcome.The young people presented their findings to

health professionals in a report: ‘The 730+ Report’ which highlighted the need for insulin pumps for young people. (730+ is the number of insulin injections most young people have to do per year)

Eventually young people persuaded the local PCT to provide a fully funded insulin pump service, and this has now become standard practice for children and young people across County Durham and Darlington. Now, every young person has the choice to have an insulin pump.

Swings & Roundabouts – Diabetes and Me

We have developed a Peer Mentoring Programme for young people to attend – This lasts for 4 weeks and each weekly session lasts for three hours. In each session we look at two different topics, for example healthy eating (where the young people get to make a healthy meal), exercise (people go into the gym), emotions and how to get more support from family etc. The course was developed in partnership with the Multi Disciplinary Paediatric Diabetes Team.

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What happened next?

As well as this, we also have a monthly meeting where young people take part in different activities such as healthy eating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. We also lobbied for better care for children and young people with diabetes. This is supported by the local hospitals and a diabetes specialist nurse always attends.

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The programmeSo far we have run a pilot programme and one other programme.The young people who have completed the course said that they realised in order to improve their diabetes care in the future they had to make changes now and felt the scheme helped them to begin this process.The feedback has been extremely positive! In addition to the peer mentoring programme, everyone meets once a month and we look at different topics each time, such as how schools can improve their care and the new technologies which are available.

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The Future …

We are hoping to run 2/3 more peer mentoring sessions this year and continue to support and improve different health-related services across Co. Durham and Darlington.

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. Thank you for listening……….