Empowering parents in Tower Hamlets to access the right care at the right time

Improvement in parents’ knowledge, confidence and skills around their child’s health results in an improvement in unnecessary visits to their GP surgery for minor ailments.

‘DIY Health: 0 to 5’ is a 12-week educational programme for parents of children under the age of 5 years old, co-facilitated by health visitors and an adult learning specialist.

The programme was created by the CQC Outstanding St Andrew’s Health Centre in Bow in response to parents re-attending the GP for minor ailments, reporting that they did not feel confident in managing their child’s health.

During the programme, a curriculum is created with parents with the aim of empowering them and improving their skills and confidence to access the right help at the right time for their child’s minor ailments. It covers topics such as fever, feeding, gastroenteritis, cold and flu and ear pain. It draws on local resources to provide additional support, including local children’s centres.

Since starting at St Andrew’s in 2013, DIY Health has worked with over 180 parents across eight sites in Tower Hamlets including churches, GP surgeries and children’s centres. The programme has been implemented in two other London boroughs and also in parts of Australia.

The practice explains that initial independent evaluation shows an improvement in parents’ knowledge, confidence and skills around areas discussed and data suggests an improvement in unnecessary visits to their GP surgery for minor ailments.

In addition to learning about minor ailments, the practice reports that the outcomes for parents themselves have been excellent. Some parents have been supported back to work by the group, and some now facilitate other DIY Health sessions. One parent has started a programme at St Andrew’s helping children build self-esteem, and many have formed a solid social network within the community.

CB, a mother of 2, joined the first cohort of DIY Health feeling under confident in managing her child’s ailments. In one group session, she reported that — following their session on fever — her child had a febrile convulsion. She reported feeling confident and knowing exactly what to do due to her learning from DIY. She went on to facilitate DIY Health cohorts and become a patient champion for borough wide DIY Health programmes.

Another parent said, “I’m not as anxious now. When he’s ill the world doesn’t fall apart, we just move on and get over it and just comfort each other… I know he will get better.”

You can find out more about how St Andrew’s delivers its outstanding care here.