Investing in Children. Young people's reflections on being involved in the planning and delivery of their health services

1. Young people's reflections on being involved in
the planning and delivery of their health
services.
Chloe, Sean, Abi, Steph & Katie-Lou

2. Investing in Children
• Created in 1995 as a partnership between Durham
County Council and the NHS.
• Promotes the human rights of children and young
people.
• Supports children and young people to be
involved in the design and evaluation of public
services.

3. Darlington Health Group: Our Involvement
Investing in Children was asked by the Darlington's
Health and Wellbeing Board to run a series of
Agenda Days for children and young people living in
Darlington. The aim of the Agenda Days was to gain
the views and opinions of the children and young
people on the following issues that the PCT are
trying to address:
•Obesity
•Physical Activities
•Alcohol
•Smoking

4. What we did
We (The Darlington Health Group) looked at the
four issues and came up with a series of questions
we felt that children and young people would
understand and be able to comment on. We
contacted local organisations to see if we could
run the Agenda Days in their project/school. In
total 84 children and young people attended and
gave their views.
This is what they said:

5. Obesity
• Obesity - Being overweight is an issue for most children and young
people in Darlington. They said young people get concerned with their
weight mainly when they first start comprehensive school (aged 11/12)
and when they become a teenager and start to worry about how they
look.
• They said that the cost of eating healthily is too high.
• Everyone was aware of the risks from eating unhealthy food and said
there is plenty information out there about this, however said they still
choose to do so because it is cheap and convenient.
• Most of the young people said they choose what they have to eat and
that you have more choice the older you get.
• Some of the young people suggested that it is easier for young people to
access activities and more help with diet plans etc…
• More needs to be done to make healthy food cheaper as young people
know what they need to eat to stay healthy but the cost of healthy food
is an issue.

6. Obesity: Recommendations
.
All of the young people we spoke to said that they
are fully aware of what they should be doing to
stay healthy and stop obesity.
They all said that in order to tackle obesity:
•Healthy foods needs to be cheaper there should
be cheap or free activities for children and young
people to access.
•They also said they need more help to create
healthy diet plans if you choose to eat healthily.

7. Physical Activity
.• The majority of the young people said they mainly take
part in physical activities through their school.
• The cost of activities is a major issue and barrier for
children and young people living in Darlington.
• It is also an issue for young people with a disability
accessing the activities.
• Transport is an issue for all children and young people.
• Lots of comments where said about young people not
doing as much these days because of Xbox’s and
PlayStations
• Activities are not publicised enough in the local area as
most young people were unaware what was currently on
offer.

8. Physical Activity: Recommendations
.All of the young people talked about the cost of being able to
access activities and things that will keep them healthy. They
said that this is a major barrier for young people in Darlington.
They would like to recommend that:
•Activities are made more accessible. There should be free or
cheaper activities on offer close to the areas where they live.
(One example given was having free trials at local gyms for
young people).
•They also mentioned how they are unaware of what is on in
their area and rely solely on word of mouth to find out about
things.
•Activities should be promoted in the variety of ways such as on
social networking sites, in local shops and through youth
workers etc…

9. Alcohol
.• Everyone we spoke to said Alcohol is an issue for young people and that lots
of young people change in a negative way when they drink.
• Most did not feel binge drinking was a problem, however did say they drink
more than what is recommended for an adult.
• They all said that it is easy for young people to get a hold of alcohol.
• We asked young people how they get alcohol and can afford it and were
told:
• They save up their dinner money to buy it or lie about why they need
money from their parents/guardians.
• They also said that lots of parents buy them the drink or ask someone
older to get it for them
• Some young people said they borrow older peoples ID to go drinking.
• They all said that there is already lots of information out there about the
risks and that regardless of the risks young people will still choose to drink.
• Unprotected sex whilst under the influence is a real concern and most young
people said they took more risks when under the influence.

10. Alcohol: Recommendations
.Risk Taking behaviour was the biggest concern the young people had
when alcohol was involved. Over half said that they know young people
that take risks whilst under the influence and the biggest risk was having
unprotected sex. They all felt this needs addressing as more and more
young people are taking the risk now.
Doctors – During discussions with the young people regarding where they
would go for support it was identified that 95% of the pupils had concerns
regarding accessing their doctor’s surgeries. They all felt that they were not
young people friendly and would be the last place they would go to for help
and support.
We feel this should be looked into further and involve young people in how
they could make them more young people friendly and a service for all.
Shops – Quite a few young people said that there should be stricter rules
for shops when selling alcohol. More things like mystery shopping should
take place to see if shops are selling alcohol illegally.

11. Smoking
.• Smoking is also a major issue for young people in
Darlington. Lots of young people smoke
regardless of the risks it has on them.
• Concerns were raised regarding passive smoking
and the young people felt more should be done
around this.
• They also said that children trying smoking is
getting younger (some as young as 10 years old)
and is a concern for them.
• Children and Young People smoke regardless of
the risks.

12. Smoking: Recommendations
.
They would like to recommend that:
•Targeted work needs to take place in local
primary schools to try and educate children on
the risks of smoking at an earlier age and steer
them away from trying it/or smoking at such a
young age.
•Stopping smoking – They would like to
recommend more support is available to
children and young people to stop smoking.
.

13. Mystery Shopping
.The PCT asked us to carry out an evaluation on 5 level 2
CASH services. We approached sexual health services to
carry out a mystery shop to find out how young people
were treated and to look at different aspects of the
services. Pairs of young people in the group went into a
range of surgeries in different areas across County Durham.
When we tried to access the surgeries we found there
were some complications – information such as opening
times and directions were not easily accessible and when
we did find them on the website it hadn’t been updated
with dates and times of the clinics.
In the clinics everyone noted things, such as accessibility
and friendliness of staff.

14. Young People’s Involvement in Interviews
Young people were involved in IAPT (Increasing
Access to Psychological Therapies) interviews for
new workers.
..

15. The Diabetes Group
..

16. How the group started…….
In 2001 Investing in Children started to work with
children and young people who had type one
diabetes.
We wanted to look at other hospitals’ clinics and
facilities to see how hospitals in Co. Durham and
Darlington could be improved.
..

17. What happened next?
Dr Lamb suggested visiting a clinic in Uddevalla in
Sweden run by world-renowned paediatric
consultant Ragnar Hanas, because this clinic has one
of the most successful rates for controlling young
people’s blood/sugar through insulin pumps.
..

18. The Outcome
.
The young people presented their findings to
health professionals in a report: ‘The 730+ Report’
which highlighted the need for insulin pumps for
young people. (730+ is the number of insulin
injections most young people have to do per year)
Eventually young people persuaded the local PCT
to provide a fully funded insulin pump service, and
this has now become standard practice for children
and young people across County Durham and
Darlington. Now, every young person has the
choice to have an insulin pump.

19. Swings & Roundabouts – Diabetes and Me
We have developed a Peer Mentoring Programme for
young people to attend – This lasts for 4 weeks and
each weekly session lasts for three hours. In each
session we look at two different topics, for example
healthy eating (where the young people get to make
a healthy meal), exercise (people go into the gym),
emotions and how to get more support from family
etc. The course was developed in partnership with
the Multi Disciplinary Paediatric Diabetes Team.
..

20. What happened next?
As well as this, we also have a monthly meeting
where young people take part in different activities
such as healthy eating and maintaining a healthy
lifestyle. We also lobbied for better care for children
and young people with diabetes. This is supported
by the local hospitals and a diabetes specialist nurse
always attends.
..

21. The programme
So far we have run a pilot programme and one other
programme.
The young people who have completed the course said
that they realised in order to improve their diabetes care
in the future they had to make changes now and felt the
scheme helped them to begin this process.
The feedback has been extremely positive!
In addition to the peer mentoring programme, everyone
meets once a month and we look at different topics each
time, such as how schools can improve their care and the
new technologies which are available.
..

22. The Future …
We are hoping to run 2/3 more peer mentoring
sessions this year and continue to support and
improve different health-related services across Co.
Durham and Darlington.
..

23. .
Thank you for listening……….