HCT secures New Public Health Nursing Contract for Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust has been announced as the new provider for public health nursing in Hertfordshire by Hertfordshire County Council. The Council commissions public health services across the county, and recently ran a tender process to select organisations to provide its Family Centre Services, which include public health nursing services for children and young people. HCT bid for the public health nursing services part of the service, covering health visiting and school nursing. These are services which HCT already runs across Hertfordshire. The contract is for six years and begins on 1 October 2018.

Clare Hawkins, Acting Chief Executive at Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust said: “We are delighted to be awarded the contract to continue to provide public health nursing services for Hertfordshire. Our teams of school nurses, health visitors and support workers already provide excellent services, and the new contract is a great opportunity for us to work even more closely with our colleagues in education, family support services and other local organisations. Together, we will be focusing on the vision that every Hertfordshire child has the best possible start in life. We will be working to deliver great outcomes for all children and young people based on the County Council’s six key outcomes for its Family Centre Services – be happy, be resilient, be independent, be ambitious, be safe and be healthy. Ultimately, our aim is to enable all children to become healthy, resilient adults who are able to contribute to their community.

 HCT’s success in securing this contract comes on the back of other recent innovative work, including:

• Being one of the first healthcare trusts to use the Lancaster Model, a method of clearly identifying health issues amongst children in a way that enables early intervention and care
• Creating a series of podcasts - hosted by BBC Radio 1 and Cold Feet star Cel Spellman – called Health Uncovered, focusing on important and hard to talk about areas for young people such as sexual health and bullying. The podcasts feature real and uncut conversations with young people from a Hertfordshire secondary school alongside expert input from our school nurses
• Establishing two-year group reviews, which were nominated for a 2017 Nursing Times award
• Piloting the young parent pathway in Hemel Hempstead, which provides an enhanced service offer for parents aged up to 21
• Building relations and exploring opportunities for joint working in Hertsmere
• Developing a person centred outcome measure which links to Hertfordshire County Council’s “Six Bs” outcome framework

HCT will work closely with colleagues in the Council’s family support services to ensure that our services are fully integrated with the other services available for children, young people and families.