The Provision of a 0-19 Sefton Council Healthy Child Programme (up to 25 with SEND)

The Healthy Child Programme (HCP) is the early intervention and prevention public health programme that lies at the heart of universal services for children, young people, and families at a crucial stage of life. Its universal reach provides an invaluable opportunity to identify families that need additional support and children who are at risk of poor outcomes.

Sefton has an age 0-19 population of 59,700; and of those 14,500 are under the age of 5 years. Public Health HCP is currently provided to the 0-19 (up to 25 with SEND) age group through an integrated contract, which includes Health Visiting, School Nursing, and an Enhanced Pathway for vulnerable families. The service is fully aligned to NHSEI commissioned Immunisations and Vaccination Programme, and ICB Commissioned Specialist Nursing for Children in Care (CiC), Youth Justice Service and Specialist Safeguarding.

Under the terms of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, local authorities are responsible for improving the health of their local population and the commissioning of public health services for children and young people 0 to 19 years (up to 25 with SEND). Ensuring every child has the best start in life is one of OHID’s (formerly PHE) key priorities. Best Start in Life has been identified as a priority within the national 5-year strategy, which runs from 2020 to 2025.

A major contribution to achieving these ambitions and strategies is the modernisation of the Healthy Child Programme, which is based on 4 levels of service – community, universal, targeted and specialist, depending on individual and family need.

The Service will have a significant role in Sefton and be a lead partner in the Integrated Care System and locality based multi-agency working arrangements. The HCP will be structured in line with the wider Sefton’s Children and Young People (C&YP) offer, ‘Start Well’, which is currently in transformation. It will also align with the development of Family Wellbeing Hubs and the updated Social Care model and will work together to deliver an integrated service for children and young people. The aim is to reduce duplication across the workforce and improve efficiency and the experience of the children, young people, and families that the Service is working with.

The Service will work positively with the Council and its partners to transform and improve services and outcomes for children and young people. This may result in additional services being added and changes to the service specification, in accordance with the contract variation provision, during the term of the contract. There will also be an expectation for service provision to flex, responding to changes to national guidance (such as further guidance around the Modernised Healthy Child Programme), or as a result of local transformation.

The procurement falls into the light touch regime category of the public contract regulations and Cabinet have authorised for the Director of Public Health to conduct an Open Procedure tender exercise to put the contract in place to run for a period of 5 years, with the option to extend for up to a further 2 years.