Norfolk & Waveney Children & Young People's Health Services provide a wide range of free health support and services for children and young people. This includes;
Some of our services are offered to all families this is called our ‘universal’ offer. Some of the services are targeted and specialist, to work with children and families that need further support and intervention.
How We Hear You Might Need Support
Information and referrals about families who are eligible for our services come by a variety of routes. For example from;
No matter how we hear about your child, we want to make sure you get the right service, from the right practitioner, at the right time.
Your Information
Once we hear about your unborn baby, child or young person, the referral will be reviewed by a health professional.
Community electronic health records will be accessed and the parts relevant to the referral reviewed. This is important because it means care can be directed to the right part of our service. It will then be allocated to a team member with the best skills to help.
Our services record all contact with you and your family on the electronic record of the person(s) receiving care. We use a secure health record system called SystmOne. Records are completed carefully to ensure only personal information about the individual is recorded on their own record.
When the service first has direct contact with you, on the phone, or face to face, they will be able to explain your choices about record sharing to you. You have choices on how your information is shared.
Our service follows General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) to ensure the information we see, hold and share is used appropriately and safely.
Sharing Out
You can choose to share your electronic health record of contact with Norfolk & Waveney Children and Young People’s Health Services with other health services you may access. Known as consent to share out.
You can choose not to share your health record of contact with Norfolk & Waveney Children and Young People’s Health Services with other health services you may access. Known as dissent to share out.
Sharing In
You can choose to share the health record of contact other NHS services you access with Norfolk & Waveney Children and Young People’s Health Services. Known as consent to share in
You can choose not to share the health record of contact other NHS services you access with Norfolk & Waveney Children and Young People’s Health Services. Known as dissent to share in.
You will be asked about these choices at all NHS services you access.
Sharing information can be useful. It allows involved services to see the assessment and care recorded by each other, and allows you to discuss this with them. However it is a personal decision. It is your choice and your treatment will not be affected by what you decide. Your decision will be recorded on your electronic record.
Remember you can change your mind at any time. Just discuss it at your next appointment or call the service to let them know.
Confidentiality
All staff working in our services are bound by tight confidentiality rules. Confidentiality is an important part of working with parents, carers, children and young people. We know this allows you to have confidence when talking about private and personal things. Your privacy will be protected and your information kept safe.
If the practitioner working with you has concerns about the safety of you and/ or your child they will if at all possible discuss this with you and you can decide next steps together.
This may include sharing confidential information with your agreement. If you do not agree the practitioner will ask for advice from their manager and / or the safeguarding team to assess if this is leaving you or your child at risk.
If they are worried that by discussing the concerns with you they may increase risks to you, or your child they may contact other services first to keep you or your child safe. This is very unusual. Our teams are keen to always work openly and honestly with families.
Confidentiality & Young People
If you have parental responsibility for a baby or young child you will consent to treatment for them and be involved in all decisions about care.
As children reach adolescence they become more able to understand what services they need and what would be helpful to them. This is called having the ‘competence’ to make treatment decisions for themselves.
By law children over 16 are considered to have capacity to decide for themselves. Once a child has ‘capacity’ they can consent to their own treatment, and decide for themselves who is told about their care.
All young people are different and many will have capacity before the age of 16. If a person is under 16, there is guidance for professionals to follow to help them assess if they are able to safely decide what treatment they consent to. This is known as Gillick Competency.
Before a young person consents to their own care professionals need to be confident a young person can;
The guidance is also used to decide if a young person can choose to keep their care private and confidential from parents and carers.
It is important to say that our team will always encourage a young person to share information about their care with their loved ones. Practitioners will help a young person decide how they can comfortably share things with parents and carers. We know that parents and carers offer important support and understanding.
If young people refuse to share with their parents and carers, staff will ensure they know who to contact for help if they need it.
Staff will share a young person’s confidential information without consent only if they feel the young person is at risk. If the level of concern is high they will follow safeguarding policies and procedures to keep them safe.
You can contact the Healthy Child Service team by calling Just One Number on 0300 300 0123 or texting Parentline on 07520 631590. Our opening hours are 8am-6pm Monday-Friday (excluding bank holidays) and 9am-1pm on Saturdays.
