Agenda item

The Board requested a summary from the Early Talk for York team of the key aspects that have made the approach successful. Partners were asked ‘What can other local initiatives learn from the success of Early Talk for York?’  Their responses form the main content of this paper, on the theme of ‘genuine partnership working’.

The report was presented by the Social Mobility Project Lead and the Corporate Director, Children’s and Education Services; discussing the factors that had made Early Talk for York so successful.

The Social Mobility Project Lead summarised the pilot, stating that it had started small, which allowed them to get the right approach and prioritise relationships. He stated that Early Talk for York positively exemplified the concept of “Waiting Well” and made positive progress in addressing inequalities.

The Corporate Director, Children’s and Education further discussed this topic stating that Early Talk for York was a tremendous example of how something different and innovative could be created, which allowed intervention to take place while young people were still on a waiting list. He suggested this model could be further deployed in other areas of practice.

The board asked whether there any longitudinal work being undertaken to see if those coming off the waiting list were staying off it – with specific regard to paragraph 19. The Social Mobility Project Lead conceded that this was difficult to evaluate, but a number of academic institutions were offering to help and a bid had been put into a national funder that would allow for robust independent evaluation.

The board acknowledged that better speech and language can lead to better outcomes for young people, and asked partners which other areas they felt could benefit from a similar people-based approach.

The board acknowledged that while this method was resource intensive it had demonstrably delivered results.

The Director of Public Health discussed that another area that may benefit from this model would be Family Hub; for example its role in young people’s nutrition and the goal of living to a healthy weight. The Director of Nursing and Quality explained that children with conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes, asthma, as well as Complications of Excessive Weight (CEW) were presently referred to regional tertiary centres and therefore a preventative solution would be far preferable.

The Corporate Director of Childrens and Education suggested Mental Health – in terms of having a medicalised rather than a social approach; and cited the present preoccupation with assessing conditions such as autism rather than intervention and actually working with those seeking help.

The board also asked who Early Talk For York is currently working with – in terms of numbers and how children are identified, and what are the long term views on opening up the pilot and parents referring their children. The Social Mobility Project Lead answered that the scheme’s referrals predominantly came from early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings and in terms of the numbers there were between 4000-5000 children across the city impacted by Early Talk for York and the Full Approach is in approximately 50 schools and settings impacting approximately 2000 children. The initial rollout was somewhat impacted by the pandemic. The Corporate Director Children’s and Education said that full rollout to parents would need to be carefully managed as there would likely be high demand.

Resolved: That the Health and Wellbeing Board noted and commented on the contents and implications of the report.

Reason: To provide the Health and Wellbeing Board with an update on learning from Early Talk for York.