New website for family health advice launches in Gwent

A new online platform dedicated to supporting families through the stages of maternity and child health development, in partnership with local health professionals, launches today (Monday 29 March 2021) in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area.

The first of its kind in Wales, the free ABBHealthierTogether service is a self-care resource for both health professionals and the public in the ABUHB area. As well as providing valuable information from pregnancy care, child development and mental health advice for young people, it’s also anticipated to become the go-to place for parents and young people to find support, resources and guidance while understanding and navigating key areas of childhood health.

Susan Dinsdale, Assistant Divisional Nurse for the Family and Therapies Division at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and lead on ABBHealthierTogether said: “Children’s health, development and wellbeing is the foundation for our future and continues to be under threat by many different challenges.

“Healthier Together will be a small step towards empowering parents and young people with the confidence to improve self-care, where appropriate, through easy access to trustworthy health information or to access the right local support more easily.

“For health professionals it allows us to work together with families and young people to use the best available evidence jointly and access support across the NHS, Local Authority, Education and voluntary sector.”

Developed with local clinicians at the heart of it, the service encompasses all aspects of the health board’s family services and ensures that everyone is accessing the same, consistent information whether that be a worried parent or a supportive GP. With the aim of improving patient safety, the tool will also help to ease worry over health care concerns and offer a new way to access the necessary care available.

It also contains useful resources for early years staff, including safeguarding, immunisation guidance, recommendations for attending nursery or school for children who are unwell and provides children’s health information for parents.

Please visit https://abbhealthiertogether.cymru.nhs.uk/ and the website can be read in many different languages including Welsh.