Case studies

Helping children and young people enjoy good emotional health and wellbeing and develop resilience is really important to their overall health and development. Walsall's school nursing service - delivered by school nurses employed by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust – provides a wide range of support to children and parents through a programme of group sessions, courses and webinars. This case study showcases the important role of school nurses in the education system.

The challenge of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions have led to an innovative approach to children’s mental health from school nurses in Northamptonshire.

The Cwm Taf Youth Offending Service has embedded a Trauma and ACEs informed approach to working with children. It has an established prevention team that receives referrals from a number of agencies and services, including self referrals, for children aged 8-17 years. They take a developmental and relationship-based approach, responding to the needs of each individual child and family.

In Wakefield the council and local NHS have set up a roving vaccination team to work with communities at risk of low uptake.

Joint health and care teams have been established in the West Yorkshire district of Wakefield. The teams work from community hubs, helping keep people out of hospital. 

The BookTrust’s Storytime Prize aims to build confidence and enjoyment in sharing books with children and encourage visits to the library, by inviting families to explore and vote for their national Storytime prizewinning book.

Despite social care staff being eligible for the flu jab, uptake has remained low. In Wakefield only between 2 per cent and 7 per cent of staff have come forward for their jab in recent years. But that is now changing thanks to work by the council’s public health team and its partners.

The programme aims to tackle loneliness and fragmented care by joining up services for older people in supported living schemes and care homes, to help people live longer, healthier lives at home and within their communities. This example of a local initiative forms part of our managing transfers of care resource.

Wakefield Council has a range of coordinated and evidence-based projects and programmes which aim to improve the wellbeing of residents, help them into the job market and raise aspirations. They are carefully structured and monitored to produce the best results. 

Wakefield Council’s award-winning Liaison and Diversion Service is helping young offenders steer themselves away from crime by providing support for everything from mental health problems to help accessing education and training. The approach has proved so successful it is now being replicated in other areas. This case study is an example of how councils are tackling youth violence.