Inverclyde health visiting team develop innovative new app
Inverclyde’s health visiting team has developed an innovative new app to make life easier for new parents.
The team came up with the idea for the app to have all health information given to parents in a user-friendly platform. It also cuts down on the amount of paper given to new parents and to help them access advice and support day and night.
‘Happy Healthy Tots’ is available through the Right Decisions app and is tailored to give information depending on your postcode. Like the health visiting team, it has information to support babies from 10-days-old right through to starting school.
The idea was pursued and developed by Laura Gordon, Inverclyde health visiting team leader, and has been adopted by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, with input from all six local authorities covered by the health board.
Parents and families can download the app and access it when needed without needing to be online. Users can input their postcode to see information on services, groups and support in their area.
It has useful information on a range of subjects to support new parents such as information on the health visiting service, feeding your child, parental health and wellbeing, your child’s emotional wellbeing and looking after yourself. The app is written so that the information is easy to understand and includes videos. It’s safe and secure and can be updated easily. It can also be translated into 12 different languages and the text made bigger.
Councillor Robert Moran, Leader of Inverclyde Council and former chair of the Integrated Joint Board - the organisation that oversees local health and social care functions delegated to it by the council/health board and delivered by the Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “I’d like to congratulate Inverclyde health visiting team on this innovative piece of work.
“This is available to all parents and families across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde but the idea and development came from our team in Inverclyde.
“It’s a clever idea and means parents can get information as and when they need it, whether that’s in the middle of the night feeding their baby, or when they’re out and about and don’t have the leaflet to hand.
“Other family members can also access it to get the most up to date information as we know these things are always changing.
“I’m sure this app will make a big difference to new parents and I wish it every success.”
Inverclyde health visiting team has pioneered sharing information over its Facebook, X and Instagram accounts for the last four years and have more than 5,000 followers.
Initially developed as a priority during the pandemic to support parents and carers with reliable and safe information, their social media feeds have posts to support mental health, the health and development of children, community information and groups, safety of children and supports engagement and involvement.