Blackpool Children and Families Network
The Blackpool Children and Families Network will study the outcomes of pre-school children in Blackpool for the Better Start Partnership. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Please ask if there is anything that is not clear or if you have any questions.
Contact: Blackpool Centre for Early Child Development Tel: 01253 476789 Email: betterstart.cecd@nspcc.org.uk
This page will explain who we are, what information linkage is and what information will be linked
What is Better Start?
Better Start is a multi-agency partnership in Blackpool between the NSPCC, Local Authority, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Blackpool Integrated Care Board looking at improving the outcomes of our children pre birth to three years old. Better Start is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and has funding for 10 years between 2015-2027 in seven wards in Blackpool: Bloomfield, Talbot, Brunswick, Claremont, Park, Victoria and Clifton. During this time we will be looking at the outcomes for children in three specific areas: diet and nutrition, language and communication and social and emotional development.
Who is in the Better Start Partnership?
The Better Start partnership is led by the NSPCC who, through the Blackpool Centre for Early Child Development, support local research to establish how Early Years Services are benefiting families in Blackpool. The Local Authority, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Blackpool Integrated Care Board as key partners, commission and deliver services to families in Blackpool and are committed to ensuring families have access to services which give babies the best outcomes. The Better Start partnership also includes representatives from community groups, police, voluntary organisations, health, education and private and voluntary nursery settings to ensure that all in the Early Years workforce are committed to supporting parents to provide our children with the best start in life.
What is information linkage?
A range of information is kept routinely by organisations like the NHS and providers of other services. We will be comparing some of the information held in these records about you and your baby so we can understand how health and other life events are related. This is called ‘information linkage’. We will only be linking information from records which are related to you or your child’s health and well-being.
What will be linked?
Better Start will link information from health records to other routinely collected information and service provision information to give insight into outcomes for babies and children. This linkage will be from your pregnancy through to your child starting school.
At booking in
- Age of mother
- Previous pregnancies
- Weight and height of mother
- Smoking status of mother
- Alcohol consumption of mother
- Antenatal anxiety and depression
- Attending Better Start services
Birth and Postnatal
- Gestation of delivery
- Weight of baby
- Sex of baby
- Mothers smoking at delivery
- Breastfeeding initiation
- Postnatal anxiety and depression
- Neonatal admission
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (Child)
- Attended Better Start services
Infancy to School Age
- Infant feeding choices
- Oral Health
- ASQ Measures
- School readiness
- Language and communication development
- Social and emotional development
- Early Years First Stage Profile
- Involvement with Social Care (Early Help, Child in Need, Child Protection, Looked after Child)
- Immunisations
- Attended Better Start services
Parental/Carer
- Parental mental health
- Smoker in household
- Alcohol use
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Domestic Violence
- Household information
- Attended Better Start services
Why are we linking information?
We are collecting information about parents and their children at different points in their lives to help us understand more about their health and well-being, and to help improve services for all families with young children living in Blackpool. The information will be compared for research purposes only and this information will always be anonymised. You will not be contacted by the Blackpool Centre for Early Child Development or anyone within the Better Start partnership in relation to the information or asked to complete any additional forms.
How is the information kept safe?
• The information is kept by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust using the same high quality secure methods as used throughout the NHS. The data may also be accessed by trusted third parties for research purposes.
• The information and access is overseen by the Blackpool Data Working Group which reports to the Better Start Executive Board.
• Any researchers wishing to use the information must have permission from the Better Start Executive Board.
• All information has personal identification removed and information is identified only by a study ID number to any researcher.
• Researchers will only ever receive the information necessary to answer their research question and any personal information will be removed.
How long is the information kept for?
The information will be stored securely until the research project is completed, and this will be in an anonymised format. We will keep the data for this length of time to enable us to compare outcomes for different groups of mothers and children over time.
What does anonymised mean?
This means that we will remove personal details such as your name and address so any information cannot be linked back to you or your child.
What services are linked?
- Baby Steps
- For Baby’s Sake
- Survivor Mums Companion
- Big Book of Ideas
- Being a Parent
- It Takes Two To Talk
- SafeCare
- Parents Under Pressure
- Video Interaction Guidance
- Health Visiting
- Early Parenthood Service
- Community Connector Support
- Early Dental Service
- Getting Ready for School
- Speech and Language Home Visiting Service
- Chatting Children, Babbling Babies and Talking Toddlers
- Save and Play