Developing a closer relationship with health visiting teams
With the implementation of the Integrated Review this will see early years professionals working and building stronger relationships with health visiting teams. As the Integrated Review is looking to incorporate the progress check at two that early years settings complete with the development assessment carried out by health visitors this will see greater benefits for all.
Developing closer relationships with the health visiting teams will create more opportunities for both individual children. parents and practitioners. For practitioners this will give them more of a fuller picture of the child and their needs.
This new system is currently being rolled out across England; however it is causing local authorities to re-look at the system and implement their own protocols which are also being rolled across some areas. For some early years settings they are still very much unclear as to the new process, it is leaving practitioners feeling less confident in being able to support children in the setting.
The whole idea of the integrated review is to see early years professionals and health visiting teams to come together to review and track children’s development. It will in particular concentrate on developmental progress across the Prime areas of learning. The integrated review shares information from health professionals, early year’s practitioners and parents about the children’s progress and any concerns they may have. Following the sharing of this information it now allows action to be taken if concerns are raised about the child’s learning and development.
With the implementation of this new system approaching many settings are looking closely at their systems on how they record children’s progress. They are asking themselves
- Whether these provide all professionals with a clear picture as to where the child is at developmentally?
- During the child’s settling in period is it discussed with parents the involvement of other health professionals?
- Do reports or progress summaries show a picture of children’s progress over time?
- Is the information obtained clear to see whether there is a concern?
How information will be shared
The sharing of information is a fundamental part of this new system. The initial process of this system is for early years professionals to make contact with the health visiting team, at this point key questions can be asked such as;
- At what age will the child receive their health review?
- Will the ages and stages questionnaire still be used by health professionals?
- What will be the most effective way of sharing the two year progress check be?
- With parental permission can the names of children due their health review be shared with settings so they can make arrangements for the health team to see the child at the setting and meet the parents?
Has this new system been implemented in your area, we would really like to hear how it is working in your setting or what challenges you have come up against?