Learning from practice

Bradford’s teenage pregnancy rates have fallen by 22.9% between1998 to 2004.

In 1997 the former Bradford District Health Promotion Service began work with Social Services and other agencies to develop sexual health promotion with looked after children. This group therefore had already been identified as a priority prior to the development of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. Good practice guidance on working on sexual health issues with young people was developed. Initially ten Healthy Schools were invited to take part in the pilot and later this was offered to all Hackney schools.

Schools with up-to-date SRE policies and programmes in place were allocated training places. This system is still in place and the project works regularly with 36 primary schools. All teachers complete a pre and post-evaluation form. The data shows that the in-class training and planning support offered by CWP has resulted in increased confidence in 90% of participating teachers. CWP were filmed with pupils and teachers at Baden Powell School for a national training video on SRE for school governors (financed by the Department of Health). The video has been sent to all schools in England.

CWP are currently making a teacher training DVD filmed in Hackney. In 2004 CWP won the FPA Pamela Sheridan Award for SRE. They now run a similar modelling project with secondary schools in Hackney. For further information contact Paula Power on power.coleman@virgin.net

The health assessment team for looked after children work with the care leavers nurse to ensure that the young people are seen by their public health nurse for a health assessment on a six monthly or yearly basis. All the public health nurses undertaking health assessments are either school nurses or health visitors. Packages of care are developed and negotiated between young people and carers and the clinical team.

As part of the assessment health education is provided on sexual health and teenage pregnancy. Information around local sexual health and contraception services is passed on to young people. The leaving care nurse targets young people aged 16 to 17 who are in the process of pathway planning or who have already left care for independent living. As well as giving sexual health advice she has recently facilitated an eight week parenting group. This included sexual health advice as well as including other health subject’s relevant to young parents, such as links into a local Sure Start, a local teen parents group, or to the group run by Social Services to support teenage parents. The leaving care nurse will also link in to other relevant services to ensure young people’s housing, benefits and other needs are met. The health assessment team are involved in an annual fun day which is arranged for all looked after children, carers and siblings, with stalls providing advice on various health issues, which includes sexual health information.

Training is also provided to staff in children’s residential homes and for foster carers, to ensure they have an understanding of the sexual health needs of this group. It also aims to build on skills and confidence of staff and foster carers to enable them to talk about sexual health issues with young people. For any professional working directly with young people there is a well established network group. The group provides professionals with the opportunity to network with others across a wide range of services and projects. The aims are to share good practice, to offer training (and share information on training both locally and nationally), to share information on new and existing initiatives, to provide workers with support, and to link operational work into the district wide strategy. As well as holding quarterly meetings the network group also receives information via email from the strategy and from each other. Information and opportunities to access training are shared in this way.

Case study from Teenage Pregnancy Next Steps:Guidance for Local Authorities and Primary Care Trusts on Effective Delivery of Local Strategies Non Statutory Guidance from DfES Every Child Matters Change for Children at http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/resources-and-practice/IG00145