HCRG Care Group is today marking its first 100 days leading on delivering innovative and transformative community health services for children, young people and their families in Surrey and North East Hampshire.
Its fresh approach is already making it easier for families to access more joined-up, person-centred care, from antenatal support through early years and into school years up to the age of 19.
The service employs around 700 community healthcare professionals covering health visiting, school nursing, immunisation programmes, children’s therapies, specialist nursing for children with additional health and care needs, and developmental paediatrics.
In just 100 days, HCRG Care Group has made it quicker, easier, and more convenient to get support from its Surrey Child and Family Health service and has started recruiting for additional staff like Health Visitors to enhance the service even further.
A brand new single point of access which HCRG Care Group launched on day 1 means families and professionals wanting initial advice on the range of services can get in touch via just one phone number and one email address.
While local Healthy Family Teams, made up of health visitors, school nurses, and children’s therapists, are now co-located in new clinics making care and support more accessible in families’ own neighbourhoods.
The service is also running baby clinics in familiar community spaces, has launched free online sessions covering topics such as antenatal care and getting children ready for starting school and has extended the hours of some advice lines for parents into the evening, making it easier for working parents to get help and support when it’s convenient for them.
A free, dedicated app, launching this summer, will be packed with information for parents and carers on child development, support for dads, infant feeding and more, as well as guides to where clinics and other local health services are located and how to access them.
And work is underway to reduce waiting lists for therapies and developmental paediatrics which were inherited from the previous service.
Sandra Pycock, Business Unit Head for Surrey Child and Family Health, said: “Already, families are feeling the benefits of a simpler, more responsive, and clinically led service. Our vision is to deliver services that put babies, children, young people and their families at the heart of what we do as we focus on achieving our aim of changing lives by transforming health and care. We are at the start of our journey and we’re proud to be building something truly excellent for Surrey.”
Surrey Child and Family Health is provided by HCRG Care Group, the UK’s largest specialist NHS community services provider.
For more information about Surrey Child and Family service, visit – https://surreychildandfamily.co.uk/