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Rediscovering School Nurses: A GP Trainee’s Journey into Hidden Brilliance
Introduction As a trainee General Practitioner, I was surprised at the limited exposure that I had to the work and the far-reaching impact of school nurses. My journey to understand their roles and…
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Read the full storyLessons for the Left Shift: Bob Klaber on Bridging the Gap
In a recent article for the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Healthcare Finance magazine, Dr Bob Klaber, consultant paediatrician and co-founder of Connecting Care for Children, shared…
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Read the full storyConnecting the Dots: Improving Neighbourhood Multidisciplinary Team Collaboration in Child Health GP Hubs
What was our aim? The significance of social determinants of health and their impact on medical care have become increasingly relevant, and affect a large part of paediatric practice in the UK¹.…
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Read the full storyManaging Childrens' Asthma at Home - Information for Parents & Carers
As a GP trainee working with Connecting Care for Children, I’ve spoken to young people with asthma and their families about their experiences with healthcare. From these conversations, I noticed…
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Read the full storyHow we used creative workshops to support the health and wellbeing of asylum seeking families
How we used creative workshops to support the health and wellbeing of asylum seeking families
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Highlights from the 2024 RCPCH conference
It was fantastic to be at this year's RCPCH conference in Birmingham. Here are some of our personal highlights from a busy and inspiring conference, packed with lots of conversations about…
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Read the full storyUnderstanding barriers to healthy eating: Children’s choice leading barrier to healthy eating?
Understanding barriers to healthy eating: Children’s choice leading barrier to healthy eating?
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Read the full storyOvercoming Barriers to Immunisation: Lessons Learnt from the community
Overcoming Barriers to Immunisation: Lessons Learnt from the community
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Read the full storyLessons learnt (so far) from establishing models of integrated clinical care for children and young people
We are always learning. In healthcare, we learn most from children and families. CC4C also learns a great deal from colleagues working across the UK and beyond. Many like-minded individuals meet…
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Read the full storyChild Health Hub ICS Value Analysis
How do we approach value and the economics of the Child Health Hub model of care? With the help Economics By Design, we analysed the value of the Child Health Hub. The impact of the Hub extends to…
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Read the full storyHow to tackle the obesity crisis
Healthy eating education – a resource for schools and healthcare professionals We understand getting children to maintain a healthy diet is no easy feat, especially during the cost of living crisis.
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Read the full storyPoor transition is contributing to a decline in young people’s health How can we help?
What is transition? Transition of care is when young people move from paediatric to adult healthcare. This is often a daunting period for young people as they try to navigate NHS systems for the…
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Read the full storyFind out more about the work we're presenting at this year's RCPCH conference in Glasgow
We were delighted to have six posters accepted at this year's conference, a brilliant showcase of the range of projects we have been working on over the last year. Click on the poster titles to…
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Read the full storyGood news report from the NHS Confederation's Primary Care Conference
Good news report from the NHS Confederation's Primary Care Conference. Mando Watson joined Matthew Taylor, the Confederation's chief executive, Michael Smith, Matthew Taylor, Dr Sy Ganesaratnam for…
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Read the full storyDamp & Mould advice
In the last few months, we have spoken to lots of families who are concerned about damp in their homes. After the coroner shared their verdict, that two-year-old Awaab Ishak’s death was due to…
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Read the full storyStrep A: what is it and what to do?
Strep A: what is it and what to do?
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Own it, supporting young people to take ownership of their healthcare
We have developed some resources to support young people using the NHS, now we are on a mission to share them
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Read the full storyProject Play!
Find out more about how we supported children in Paddington Green to spend more time playing outside Dr Fiona Kennedy, GP at Paddington Green Health Centre, approached Connecting Care for Children…
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Read the full storyNew resources for parents during coronavirus
Since the start of the pandemic we have been working with local parents and Community and Maternity Champions to produce useful resources for parents during coronavirus We know that now, more than…
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Read the full storyParents Coronavirus frequently askes questions
New: Parents Coronavirus FAQ
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Read the full storyChildren and young people’s health and wellbeing in North West London, What matters?
Our report from the children and young people's virtual healthcare workshop, Spring 2021
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Read the full storyIntegrated care children’s health GP Hubs, evaluation from across the UK
Integrated care children’s health GP Hubs, evaluation from across the UK
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Read the full storyFind out more about the Youth Wellbeing Question Time Event
Sharing the outcomes from our online event on 11 March 2021
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Read the full storyAllergy First Aid during a Pandemic - for children & young people
Allergy First Aid during a Pandemic for children & young people
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Read the full storyWhy supporting the mental health of our Young People is more important now than ever
“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candour, and more unashamed conversation.” Glenn Close
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Read the full storyYoung People at Imperial, have your say
resources for young people at Imperial
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Read the full storyWinter with Covid-19
Our Integrated Care Fellow, Dr Arpana Soni was asked by the Royal College of Children's Health and Pediatrics to reflect on how we have prepared for the difficult winter ahead.
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Read the full storyDr Kate Dharmarajah presenting at the virtual International Conference of Integrated Care
Dr Kate Dharmarajah pesentation 'Co Production and Participatory Evaluation in combination - Is this approach more that the sum of it's parts?'
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Thinking about the 'paediatrician of the future' and really good training
Mando Watson's blog for the RCPCH 'Thinking about the 'paediatrician of the future' and really good training'
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Read the full storyParents Coronavirus FAQs
Parents Coronavirus FAQs
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Read the full storyTips for attending school and Covid-19
Tips for attending school and Covid-19
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Read the full storyCOVID-19 Q&A Webinar for Young People
COVID-19 Q&A Webinar for Young People
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Read the full storyUsing Microsoft Teams for clinic appointments
Using Microsoft Teams for clinic appointments
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Read the full storyWhat we can learn from community aid groups during coronavirus
The impact of mutual aid groups during coronavirus and how to connect to them
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Read the full storyGP FAQ Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy
Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy diagnosis and management
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Read the full storyGP FAQ Torticollis and plagiocephaly
GP FAQ Torticollis and plagiocephaly
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Read the full storyGP FAQ speech, tongue ties, dummies and lisps
Speech and dummies Are dummies recommended? While many infants use them without problems, speech and language therapists (SALT) do not advocate the use of dummies because it stops babies from…
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Read the full storyGP FAQ Familial Hypercholesterolaemia
Familial Hypercholesterolaemia can be diagnosed using the Simon Broome criteria – see box one in this link: http://ep.bmj.com/content/94/3/84.full - Hypercholesterolaemia in children, guidelines…
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Read the full storyGP FAQ head circumference
Head circumference (HC) and weight do not have to track the same centile in infants. HC relates much more to parental head size than weight. When assessing a baby, ensure that the HC was measured…
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Read the full storyGP FAQ Asthma inhalers and spacers
Inhalers Did you know? There are age-appropriate videos on how to use inhalers on the Itchy Sneezy Wheezy website: https://www.itchysneezywheezy.co.uk/AsthmaVideos.html Right Breathe is a useful…
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Read the full storyGP FAQ chest pain
It is uncommon for children presenting with chest pain to have cardiac abnormalities or other serious underlying pathology. Common causes of chest pain in children without risk factors for serious…
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Read the full storyGP FAQ preschool wheeze
Wheeze is a common symptom, however, it may be mistaken for other sounds such as stridor, snoring or congestion. Ask parents to describe what they are actually hearing, a video of the child when the…
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Read the full storyGP FAQ: Limb variants in young children
Limb variants in young children: an educational resource for primary care practitioners
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Read the full storyThe importance of having CAMHS professionals in a GP MDT
Over the last few years the success of the GP Child hubs has grown and grown. The concept is simple; to have a group of GP practices come together once a month with a general paediatrician for an…
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Read the full storyLet’s talk about Sex – teenagers and Sexual Health
As part of my work with the Connecting Care for Children Team at St Mary’s Hospital , I had the opportunity to take part in a teaching day at the local William Morris Sixth Form. The aim was to…
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Read the full storyMy Year as a CC4C Nurse Integrated Care Fellow
I have actually been part of the CC4C team for 18 months but that doesn’t sound as catchy in the title! As a nurse member of a predominantly doctor-led integrated care model, the last 18 months…
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Read the full storyLife saving skills for children
Are you a parent, grandparent or carer perchance? I’m going to apologise for my rhymes in advance! But today I’d like to extend an invitation, Which is something that really fills me with elation.
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Read the full storyOur intergenerational event
On 4th April 2019 I had the opportunity to take part in an intergenerational workshop at Charing Cross hospital. These workshops are organised by Dr Charlotte Lance (Intergenerational Fellow) in…
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Read the full storyAsthma-centred Hub
‘Hold on… you’re saying your GP called you to make an appointment... and you got to see a Paediatrician too?’ In the interest of full disclosure, this conversation was not actually overheard in a…
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Read the full storyAutism Education at a GP Child Health Hub
The CC4C GP Hubs are places where many health professionals invested in Paediatrics gather and provide a link between primary and secondary services with the aim of providing the best possible…
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Read the full storyStamp Out Cyber-bullying and Keep Safe
I often feel proud in my job, knowing that as a collective we are helping children and their families, and indirectly - somewhere along the line - I’m helping them too. But the SOCKS workshop meant…
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Read the full storyBringing integrated care into nursing
I am a paediatric nurse working as a clinical nurse educator in my full time role and I wanted to learn something different. I got involved with CC4C to learn more about integrated care and look at…
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Read the full storyImproving integrated care for kids in north west London: CC4C’s first away day
At the first Connecting Care for Children (CC4C) away day over 25 individuals came together to brainstorm the future of this innovative ever-advancing project. The announcement of the NHS 10-year…
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Read the full storyLearning from young people
Quality Improvement – Learning from Young People Adolescence is a difficult time in many people’s lives and is only made harder for young people with a chronic health condition. One particular…
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Read the full storySchool clinics #OutOfHospitalCare
The rigmarole of clinic attendance is all-too-familiar for many young people with chronic conditions. Getting the bus to school in the morning and staying for a few hours of lessons before being…
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Read the full storyUsing sequential simulation to tell the patient journey in White City
Last May, I was lucky enough to take part in the ‘How do you help your unwell child?’ event at White City Community Centre, organised by CC4C in collaboration with the Imperial College Centre for…
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Read the full storyEntering the asthma big room
My time working on the general paediatric wards as a second year doctor is nearly up. I’ve had a fantastic few months working with wonderful people and I have learnt a lot about looking after unwell…
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Read the full storyChild health GP Hubs, a newcomers perspective
I began my four-month rotation in ‘integrated paediatrics’ with very little idea what to expect. My clinical experience as a doctor thus far had consisted solely of busy, ward-based hospital roles,…
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Read the full storyBreastfeeding support in the community
Breastfeeding is a highly emotive subject in the UK. I’ve been witness to plenty of fraught discussions on the subject; just because something is supposed to be ‘natural’, that doesn’t mean it’s…
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Read the full storyChildren's Health, For Life
As a mum to two young boys I have experienced first-hand the confusing child health world parents are expected to navigate. For anyone who has had to put up with conflicting advice or changing…
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Read the full storyBe a part of the Revolution
How bringing our data together is going to galvanise integrated and proactive patient care. WSIC – Whole Systems Integrated Care Dashboards Life is full of key-point moments that change our approach…
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Read the full storyHow can behavioural insights support families to choose the best option for their unwell child?
Pressures on emergency departments (EDs) are again dominating headlines, but what about children? Children make up almost a quarter of total ED attendances, and in fact their impact on current…
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Read the full storyIntergenerational care: the Christmas party report
In December, I wrote about our collaboration with the dementia team to organise a Christmas party. This was devised as an intergenerational workshop designed around interaction and team building…
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Read the full storyProcess mapping – a recipe for medical quality improvement
I’m a second year paediatric trainee. I usually spend my time on the wards with acutely unwell children. The meetings I normally attend involve discussing children’s acute admission and their…
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Intergenerational care
When I first heard that the lead dementia nurse had an idea – to bring children and patients with dementia together – I jumped at the chance to get involved, and what a journey it has been.
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Read the full storyMy CC4C experience
With just a few days’ notice, I was informed I would start my working life on a community paediatrics job. When my role was explained I initially felt a little anxious, sceptical and disappointed.
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Read the full storyCC4C and the 'triple aim for populations'
In Connecting Care for Children (CC4C) we seek to integrate the care of child health across the boundaries of organisations. The CC4C initiative aligns with the ‘triple aim for populations’ – a…
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Read the full storyTelemedicine
There is huge pressure on medicine, we all know that. Increasing numbers of elderly patients, patients with complex medical needs, and a dwindling number of doctors as many set sail for sunnier…
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Read the full storyDoing something different outside of the hospital: Restart a heart
I’m a paediatric trainee and this is my second full year of specialising in paediatrics. Most of my job, as you would imagine, is spent looking after unwell children and communicating with anxious…
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Read the full storyEmpowering parents with life-saving skills
As part of my four-month rotation in integrated paediatrics I was lucky enough to take part in monthly teaching of basic life support to parents. By far, this has been one of the most enjoyable and…
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Read the full storyGiving parents confidence about childhood vaccinations
Local authorities aim to have a minimum of 90 per cent of children immunised in order to protect both the individual child and the overall population (www.gov.uk/phe www.chimat.org.uk). Hammersmith…
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Read the full storyMeasuring value and real impact in child health
As a sentimentalist, I believe that my present will be continuously shaped by my past. That would then explain why, after so many years of research, I tend to define success by the number of…
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Integrated paediatrics and Connecting Care for Children
Integrated paediatrics was the last four-month rotation of my two-year junior doctor’s foundation training programme. Before this I had busy, clinical, service provision roles in A&E, medicine and…
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Speed. Efficiency. Immediacy.
If you were to think of three words to describe how the NHS operates, sadly you would be unlikely to come up with these. Although the NHS can sometimes defy our expectations, the organisation’s size…
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Read the full storyComplex systems also come in children’s sizes
Throughout my master's degree in ‘One Health, Infectious Disease’, I became fascinated by how subtle changes can have drastic impact on the natural equilibrium that protects us, the animals, and…
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Read the full storyAn idea that could smash the clinical silos
By placing junior doctors in the most innovating organisations we could create a more open-minded culture, writes Nishma Manek “What might have struck a non-partisan onlooker was the extraordinary…
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Read the full storyWorking with the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust
Last month Connecting Care for Children (CC4C) got together with CWMT to run workshops for GPs, paediatricians and children's clinical nurse specialists (who look after young people with long term…
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Read the full storyHow can GPs support the families of very young patients?
As a GP trainee I was apprehensive about my first set of paediatric night shifts. Seeing children in a GP practice is often the highlight of a busy day, however the prospect of being faced with an…
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Read the full storyPATCH: Foundation doctors meet a new paediatric outreach team
What is PATCH? Providing assessment and treatment for children at home (PATCH) is a new service based at the emergency department at St Mary’s Hospital, funded by Imperial Health Charity. The team…
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Read the full storyOur top tips for improving a child's oral health
Oral health is a growing concern in the UK. CC4C worked with the Community Champions to help educate children around improving their oral health.
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Read the full storyManaging menstrual problems in adolescents with neurodisability
To adolescents with neurodisability and their caregivers, the onset of puberty and menstruation can pose a significant challenge. How do you manage the practicalities of managing periods? How do you…
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Read the full storyQualityWatch: Closer to critical
'We can only be sure to improve what we can actually measure' wrote Lord Darzi in High Quality Care for All. I was reminded of it this week when QualityWatch hosted a conference to coincide with…
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Read the full storyRestart a heart day 2016 – every child a lifesaver
Doctors and nurses at St Mary’s Hospital joined forces with local schools to support the Restart a heart day campaign in October
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Read the full storySex can be hard for adolescents to talk about, but can support groups help?
Our brief was to help create a group for young people, particularly girls, where they felt safe and comfortable to talk about sex
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Read the full storyBasic life support in the community
As a part of our time in the St Mary’s paediatric department, we were lucky to be given time with the Connecting Care for Children team to develop our own projects. Lucinda, a paediatric registrar,…
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Read the full storyWorkshop, think tank, learning group: the new educators
I was invited to observe a lunchtime lab meeting in practice and what emerged was a dynamic think tank of creative and cognitive thinking
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Read the full storyThat time of year again
National flu vaccination programme for children Winter has arrived and with it comes the yearly vaccination programme against the influenza virus. This year the programme has been extended to…
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Read the full storyLooking at child health in Japan
For two weeks in June I participated in the Royal College of General Practitioners medical exchange to Japan to experience its healthcare services
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Read the full storySpotting the sick child
As a paediatrician, how can I provide a 20 minute guide for GPs on spotting the sick child? This task seemed impossible until I teamed up with the GPs themselves.
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Read the full storyPaediatrics at the GP's surgery: putting heads together
When I attended my first hub clinic I was thrilled to see paediatrics and GPs coming together
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Read the full storyDid it work the way we hoped it would?
When designing a new service, it is crucial that we fully evaluate it so we can understand if it produced the outcomes desired, and to what extent. We carried out a mixed methods service evaluation…
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Integrated child health: time to move centre-stage
Three key themes helped to create a great sense of shared purpose around integrated child health at an event this week
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Read the full storyThe waiting room: can we make the wait worthwhile?
Most medical appointments involve spending some time in the waiting room. If, like me, you are a parent of a toddler, you have probably become quite familiar with a number of waiting rooms,…
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Read the full storyNew models of care: opportunities to get it right for children
The cry from many who champion the importance of children and young people’s health is that time and again children are missed off the national health policy agenda. So fair play to the Nuffield…
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Read the full storyCommunity champions: my journey to happiness
Practice champions are recruited via GP practices to enable us to co-design local healthcare services. There is no better way to explain the impact that they have, than to hear it from an incredible…
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Read the full story'Young people have a right to good health and high quality accessible healthcare.’
Last week I attended the Association for Young People’s Health (AYPH) Conference in Manchester. The AYPH is the UK’s leading charity working to improve the health and wellbeing of 10 to 24 year olds.
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Read the full storyMy experience of clinical commissioning
One of the main aims of Connecting Care for Children (CC4C) is to ‘change the way childrens’ care is commissioned, delivered and experienced in London by making the experience of paediatricians in…
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Read the full storyAn inspiring day in Birmingham - learning through doing
There are wonderful people up and down the country working hard for children and young people. Our trip this week to Birmingham as guests of Partners in Paediatrics provided many ‘light bulb’…
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Read the full storyBouncing down barriers
“Right. Everyone who needs to test before we start, do it now.” Panicked at the prospect of my trampolining skills requiring examination before being let loose in the warehouse, I looked around the…
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Read the full storyWhy do we connect with Public Health?
Understanding the health needs of north west London is important when planning and implementing service change. Connecting Care for Children (CC4C) aims to improve health outcomes and reduce health…
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Read the full storyCreating a teenage pregnancy pathway
When a 15-year-old pregnant girl walked into A&E asking for help, the paediatric trainee doctor was surprised to be at such a loss. There was no clear referral system or outline of available…
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Read the full story#NewEducators
With ever increasing pressure on the NHS to reduce costs and maintain standards, could it be that the experiences of patients and their families are worth listening to? I was very fortunate to…
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Read the full storyPractice champions and the Programme for Integrated Child Health (PICH)
In May 2015 the Connecting Care for Children (CC4C) team and three of our practice champions led a workshop at the Programme for Integrated Child Health (PICH) monthly children and young people…
