How has Covid-19 affected families with young children

The webinar highlighted the impact of Covid 19 on families with children under the age of 5. We were able to share the findings from our locally commissioned SSBC research, undertaken by Nottingham Trent University.

We heard directly from a parent and also shared how the SSBC partnership has responded to some of the challenges of Covid-19.

Tara’s story

Attendees enjoyed and really valued hearing directly from a parent. Tara’s recognition of the value of the time spent with her children and the role of play in stimulating development was well received.  Her experiences, challenges and concerns resonated with others who joined the webinar, especially those with children of all ages. 

Children’s and Fathers Mental Health

Some attendees reflected and raised concerns about the longer term impact of social distancing and less regular and physical contact with extended family members. 

Attendees were alerted to the upcoming publication by the Kings Fund. They will be sharing on their website the lessons learnt about mental health during natural disasters and big events. The importance of services knowing about this was suggested to support future children’s mental health service planning.

One attendee raised concerns about fathers. They had been unable to attend appointments with their partner. Alongside this they were increasingly relied upon by their partner for support, when existing support networks were not available. This was thought to create huge amounts of stress.

Service adaptations

The CityCare 0-19 Childrens Public Health Service provided comment on the Health Visiting service offer during the initial lockdown. The service carried on operating throughout the lockdown and offered services above what was required following the national NHS prioritisation directive around critical functions.  Antenatal and birth visits were still completed alongside development reviews.

Whilst face to face contacts were initially minimised and virtual delivery offered, if a problem was identified a face to face contact was arranged.

Vulnerable children continued to be seen.  Since the initial lockdown, a joint letter from NHS England’s Chief Nurse, Ruth May, Viv Bennett, Chief Nurse at Public Health England and the Local Government Associations Community Wellbeing Spokesperson Ian Hudspeth, had advised against any redeployment.

The CityCare 0-19 also launched their Text Health service. Parents of under 5’s were able to text a number for advice from a Community Public Health Nurse. Older children were able to text another number for advice and support directly. The feedback has been very positive and found to be very inclusive.