Winter Illness webinar – recording and resources now available

On Tuesday 16 January 2024, we delivered a Winter Illness webinar which aimed to refresh practitioners’ knowledge and to share the wide range of resources that we have available to help you support babies, children & families this winter.

The following updates were provided from partner organisations during the webinar:

Healthier Together provided an update from a Lead Paediatrician on the current winter illness context
Bliss Charity shared resources on recognition of illness in babies with Black and Brown skin
Barnardo’s discussed damp and mould and the impact this has on respiratory health

View our latest Winter Illness webinar here

Also see Winter Illness Webinar Q&A

Babies under one year of age have the highest Emergency Department (ED) attendance rate, as highlighted in our recent report ‘Understanding the rise in 0-4-year-old Emergency Department (ED) attendances and changing health visiting practice‘. Respiratory illnesses represent 3 of the top 5 reasons for ED attendance and include: upper respiratory tract infections, tonsilitis and bronchiolitis. The report also highlighted that 59% of A&E attendees did not need investigations, treatment, or hospital admission, and were sent home after reassurance.

With this in mind, it is important for health visitors and other healthcare professionals to have knowledge and understanding of current respiratory illnesses, the signs and symptoms, and advice to be able to offer parents to help enable them to look after their children at home and know when to seek further help and support.

Over the last 3 years the iHV has been working closely with NHSE, Barnardo’s, Bliss, Contact and Healthier Together to create resources for parents and healthcare professionals about a variety of winter illnesses, which include:

Bronchiolitis and RSV
Croup
Difficulty breathing and wheeze
Fever, and fever under 3-months
Breathing difficulties in babies under 3-months
Strep A and Scarlet Fever
Flu

The related resources come in a range of formats – from e-learning and webinars for healthcare professionals/practitioners, to resources for parents including “When to worry” written resources, plus filmed and animated resources in the following languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Polish, Punjabi, Romanian, Spanish and Urdu, as well as English.

View some of the available resources for practitioners here

iHV Insights on Respiratory Illness – yesterday’s recording now available

Don’t worry if you missed yesterday’s iHV Insights webinar on “Parental awareness of respiratory illness in babies and children”, as the recording and resources are now available.

The VSCE-funded iHV Respiratory Project has now successfully delivered 4 webinars, all of which are available to watch again on the iHV website on our new iHV Respiratory Illness page – this iHV Insights event was the fourth session in the series. Thanks to the funding, all resources (including all the webinars) on the Respiratory Illnesses webpage are open access.

This VSCE HW funded project aimed to share key information and resources on respiratory illnesses in under 3s – with a focus on fever, breathing difficulties and wheeze, croup, and bronchiolitis/RSV and supporting HVs in their role working with families. This includes ensuring the promotion of and access to resources already in use including the Healthier Together website and iHV Parent Tips on fever and breathing difficulties and wheeze.

Yesterday, we were joined by a fabulous panel of experts who were able to provide an update on the evidence and lots of helpful tips on supporting families with raising awareness of respiratory illness in babies and children.

Our expert panel of speakers:

Dr Ben Hughes on the EPNS4 Surge e-learning course which focuses on care and support at home
Eluned Hughes and Erika Radford, The British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK on their helplines

Webinar resources

As well as the webinar resources being available on our new iHV Respiratory Illness webpage, they are also available for iHV members to access via the iHV Insights webpage – together with their iHV Insights Record of Attendance/Reflection template to download and complete.

So, if you are already a member head over to our iHV Insights page now to download your record of attendance and check out all our previous iHV Insights. Or join us today and gain access to future iHV Insights webinars, as well as the recordings of past sessions.

Next iHV Insights – Bookings are open

24 March 2022 15:30 – 16:30
Postnatal Contraception: the health visitor’s role

Last year, the iHV received funding from the Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Innovation fund to create resources for health visitors in supporting families with their sexual and reproductive health. Following feedback from this, we know that you wanted more information about postnatal contraception and, following further funding from Sexual and Reproductive Health, we have developed training for health visitors about postnatal contraception.

How to book

Go to our Eventbrite booking page and please use your iHV membership number as your access code. If you have any problems or enquiries please email [email protected] and we will be happy to help.

Once you have submitted your details, you will be able to select your ticket and proceed to checkout – please note that this webinar is free to iHV members.

Go to Eventbrite booking page

Bookings open for February iHV Insights

Our highly popular iHV Insights webinar programme continues with our next event taking place on Thursday 17 February 2022 from 15:30 to 16:30.

This iHV Insights will cover the topic of Parental awareness of respiratory illness in babies & children – Session 4.

Thanks to specific project funding to support sharing of new resources for this important topic, this iHV Insights event is open to all health visitors to book.

The VSCE-funded iHV Respiratory Project has now successfully delivered 3 webinars, which are available to watch again on the iHV website on our new iHV Respiratory Illness page. This iHV Insights event is the fourth session in the series.

This project aims to share key information and resources on respiratory illnesses in under 3s – with a focus on Fever, Breathing difficulties and Wheeze, Croup, and Bronchiolitis/RSV, and supporting HVs in their role working with families. This includes ensuring the promotion of and access to resources already in use, including the Healthier Together website and iHV Parent Tips on fever and breathing difficulties and wheeze.

This Insights webinar will bring together the project, showcasing our new parent resources which come in a variety of languages and are accessible to those with learning difficulties/disabilities.

We are pleased to announce that our expert panel of speakers includes:

Dr Ben Hughes on the EPNS4 Surge e-learning course which focuses on care and support at home
Eluned Hughes and Erika Radford, The British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK on their helplines

How to book

Thanks to specific project funding to support sharing of new resources for this important topic, this iHV Insights event is open and free to all health visitors to book.

Go to Eventbrite booking page to book your place

Webinar: Parental awareness of respiratory illness in babies & children

iHV is delivering the VSCE HW funded project aimed at sharing key information and resources on respiratory illnesses in under 3s; with a focus on Fever, Breathing difficulties and Wheeze, Croup, and Bronchiolitis/RSV and supporting HVs in their role working with families.

As part of this programme of work, we are delighted to offer a series of funded awareness sessions to support health visitors in their role working with families – open to all health visitors.

3rd Awareness Session now booking

Date: Tues 25 January 2022
Time: 15:30-16:30

This is the 3rd in the series of awareness sessions aiming to support health visitors in their role working with families, and builds on the two awareness sessions already held in November and December (recordings of these are available on our Respiratory Illness resources webpage).

Highlights for Awareness Session 3 include presentations from:

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, DHSC – The importance of the role of health visitors in promoting parental awareness
Lead Paediatrician – A focus on croup
CONTACT – Supporting families of children with disabilities with respiratory illness.

Book your place today for the 3rd Awareness Session

New Respiratory Illness Resources

Access a range of resources through our new open-access webpage on the iHV website, including previous awareness webinars.

This contains all the collated resources from the VSCE-funded project partners to facilitate and streamline access to information, including:

HEE The Respiratory Surge e-learning
Bliss – excellent short animation on bronchiolitis and RSV in English with 5 subtitled versions available
Boloh Helpline provided by Barnado’s – new Bronchiolitis/RSV resources specifically aimed at ethnic minority groups and staff are available on the helpline

See iHV Respiratory Illness resources and previous awareness webinars (open access to all)

Future event – SAVE THE DATE!

17th February – iHV Insight and Awareness Session four: Please save the date. Further information and booking details will be released in due course.

Highlights for this final event include presentations from:

Dr Ben Hughes on EPNS4Surge course which focuses on care and support at home.
The British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK on their helplines.
Alongside introducing new resources from the iHV project team.