Child Health – supporting practitioners with advice and resources for all

Immunisations and Vaccinations

Public Health information on vaccinations (For Professionals) Knowing a few simple facts about vaccinations can enable professionals working with a child and family to be confident to take these opportunities to promote childhood vaccination, in line with the MSP value of promoting the welfare of adults, children and their families across the city of Manchester.

The NHS provides a checklist of the vaccines that are routinely offered to everyone in the UK free of charge on the NHS and the ages at which they should ideally be given, this can be found on their website at www.nhs.uk/vaccination-schedule-age-checklist

If a parent or carer is not sure whether they or their child has had all their routine vaccinations, they should ask their GP or practice nurse in the first instance. It may be possible to catch up later in life but everyone should try to have their vaccinations on time to ensure protection.

If it is not possible to get to their GP’s surgery when a vaccination is due, they should talk to their doctor, as it may be possible to arrange to have the vaccination at a different location.

Where relevant, practitioners should speak to parents about the importance of ensuring their child has the correct immunisations – this is of particular importance for families who are intending to travel abroad with babies.

If possible a GP, practice nurse or health visitor should check if a family plan to travel with their baby in the next 12 months on the first or second visit post-birth, or on the first immunisation. If necessary, the family can then be advised on what the baby will be protected against and what the baby may need to be protected from.

Also by discussing this, the parents would have a better understanding of any risks to their child from their travel plans and be able to make informed decisions before booking flights etc. This would help avoid situations where families book flights and holidays without realising that they would need vaccinations for their children.

Practitioners within Independent Health promotion facilities (such as private travel clinics and pharmacies that offer travel health consultations, vaccinations and non-travel vaccination services) who have concerns about a baby or child should contact the family’s GP surgery and raise a concern if possible; and advise the family to visit their GP.

• Further advice can be obtained from the local CCG team – in Manchester email cmccg.safeguardingpw@nhs.net

The government have produced a leaflet which can be given to families and is available to download from the website at www.gov.uk/a-guide-to-immunisations-for-babies-up-to-13-months-of-age

The complete routine immunisation schedule to use and also to show to parents is available from the website at www.gov.uk/the-complete-routine-immunisation-schedule

Shaken baby syndrome
‘Shaken baby syndrome’ or abusive head trauma describes a range of signs and symptoms resulting from violent shaking and/or impacting the head of an infant or small child. The degree of brain damage depends on the amount and duration of the shaking and the forces involved in impact of the head. Signs and symptoms range from minor effects such as irritability, lethargy, tremors and vomiting to major effects such as seizures (fits), coma and death.

• For more information visit the website www.nhs.uk/soothing-crying-baby and our Abusive head trauma resource.

Keeping active
Keeping active is important for children’s health.

There are many local activities available for all the family – a lot of which are low cost or free. This includes sports, leisure and the arts, as well as school holiday activities, youth clubs, leisure centres, dance and drama groups and a whole lot more!

• Up to date information can be found on the  Help and Support Manchester website at hsm.manchester.gov.uk

Visit our child safety resource for information about keeping babies, children and young people safe from accidents in the home and out and about.

All Our Health framework
This  resource is for all healthcare professionals to help them use their knowledge, skills and relationships, working with patients and the population to prevent illness, protect health and promote well-being.

Front-line practitioners can achieve this by:

• carrying out proactive work to prevent illness or protect health, and measuring your impact when you do this
• working with people, families and communities to equip them to make informed choices and manage their own health
• making every contact count.

The All Our Health resource is constantly evolving by taking on feedback from healthcare practitioners, leaders and educators and provides:

• resources include topic-specific information, for instance looking at how to help focus on important lifestyle risk factors like physical inactivity, smoking or alcohol;
• views on how every professional can play a role in combating problems like antibiotic resistance or pressure ulcers
• tips on having brief conversations, health coaching and motivational interviewing
• sources of trusted information to share.

The All Our Health resource can be found on the gov.uk website at www.gov.uk/all-our-health-personalised-care-and-population-health

Child Protection Evidence
Child Protection Evidence is a RCPCH (Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health) evidence-based resource available to clinicians across the UK and internationally to inform clinical practice, child protection procedures and professional and expert opinion in the legal system.

• Find out more on the RCPCH website at www.rcpch.ac.uk/child-protection-evidence