Overview
The Healthy Child Programme (HCP) is an elearning programme for all healthcare professionals working with pregnant mothers and children aged 0-5 years.
It is the first programme in the Healthy Child Programme 0-18 series of elearning resources, which includes the Healthy School Child Programme (5-12 years) and Adolescent Health Programme (12-18 years) and supports the implementation of the Healthy Child Programme – Pregnancy and the first five years of life framework and covers a range of topics related to child health and health promotion.
This resource is suitable for nurses, midwives, GPs, paediatricians and obstetricians and the child health team as part of blended learning for those in training or wishing to update their knowledge and skills.
The programme is not intended to replace core learning or textbooks on these subjects, but rather to focus on their impact on the health and wellbeing of toddlers and young children. The programme equally is not designed to address in any detail the specialist needs of children with very complex problems.
What it covers?
The Healthy Child Programme covers a range of topics related to child health and health promotion. Combining expertise from a range of professions, the programme aims to provide preventative services tailored to the individual needs of children and families and acts as a best practice guide for children’s services. Based on a model of progressive universalism, the HCP seeks to provide for all children, with additional services for children and families with particular needs and risks. The programme focuses on public health priorities such as obesity, breast feeding and social and emotional development.
This work was commissioned by the Department of Health and delivered by Health Education England (HEE)/elearning for healthcare (e-lfh) in collaboration with a consortium of professional bodies. The materials have been written by subject specialists and experts in their particular field and have been subjected to extensive and ongoing peer review. The sessions have undergone a review within the last 3 years and as a result have an improved design as well as having been updated in line with current guidance and references.
The Healthy Child Programme comprises 75 elearning sessions, grouped together by topic into 13 learning modules. Sessions will signpost the learner to other learning where appropriate. The modules comprise of individual e-learning sessions, which take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. The sessions include interactive elements, case studies and self-assessments to reinforce learning and there are a range of resources signposted at the end of each session.
Healthy Child Programme and other resources
The Healthy Child programme can also be used as a browsable resource in conjunction with a number of other elearning programmes including MindEd. Select here to find out more.
The HCP curriculum is based on the RCPCH’s Paediatric curriculum. Find out more about the HCP curriculum by selecting the modules below.
This module introduces you to the Healthy Child Programme and the background and philosophies supporting it – the principle preventive child health programme in England, incorporating screening and developmental surveillance, immunisation, health promotion and parental support. The module also covers leadership, monitoring and quality within the programme.
This module includes sessions on:
These sessions provide you with guidance on keeping good records in practice to promote effective communication and inter-professional working. You’ll also find useful information on how and why to use the Personal Child Health Record (PCHR).
This module includes sessions on:
Addressing a wide range of topics, this module provides you with resources on the health of the family in the UK. Sessions include topics such as the role of the father, the socio-emotional environment, hard to reach families and child resilience.
This module includes sessions on:
This module builds upon existing safeguarding materials, providing additional learning sessions on vulnerable children including looked after children, to support you when operating in this challenging area of practice.
This module includes sessions on:
Addressing a range of topics around parenting, this module contains resources on how factors such as attachment and wellbeing, parenting support and parental relationships affect the health of the child.
This module includes sessions on:
Child development in the first 5 years of life is a critical time for any family. These sessions review early child development and provide you with guidance when dealing with challenges around feeding, sleeping and toileting as well as common emotional and behavioural problems.
This module includes sessions on:
The development of a child’s ability to communicate is addressed in this module. Typical and atypical development are considered, along with bilingualism and social aspects of communication.
This module includes sessions on:
From pre-pregnancy through to adulthood, nutrition plays a vital role in healthy development. Focussing on the first 5 years of life, this module provides you with guidance on nutrition, feeding, weaning, growth and growth charts, the social context of food and obesity in the early years.
This module includes sessions on:
Immunisation has been removed. For elearning sessions on immunisation, refer to the Immunisation programmes.
This module outlines vital areas of interest in promoting health from the start in pregnancy through to the first 5 years of life. With a focus on smoking, obesity, mental health and substance misuse, this module also includes topics such as dental health and injury prevention.
This module includes sessions on:
Screening forms a key part of the Healthy Child Programme. This module outlines the importance of screening and describes the timeline for screening in the first 5 years of life. The role of the UK National Screening Committee is also discussed.
This module includes sessions on:
This module is covered by a single session describing the first stage of providing the health visitor profession with a model of practice that you and families can use to guide your work together on the Healthy Child Programme. It will help you to structure and reflect upon your use of the Healthy Child Programme with families. The model of practice will also help to explain your work to other professionals, services and commissioners.
This module includes sessions on:
Early Developmental Support
The Early Developmental Support module is based around an extensive set of resources which was a central government initiative. These resources were designed to support better co-ordinated services for young children who have disabilities and/or complex health needs. They are intended for use by a range of practitioners working closely with families. The elearning sessions in the Early Development Support module, introduce and explain the materials and give related background for development processes in babies and young children.
The booklets referred to have not been recently updated as the principles of Early Development Support are embedded now in practice. However, they do still contain helpful and relevant information.
This course is closely linked with Disability Matters in the Healthy Child Programme.
This module includes sessions on:
This session aims to enhance your knowledge and skills regarding oral health and factors that predispose to poor oral health. Promoting oral health in the infant and young child forms an integral part of this session. This session was updated in 2016 with the help of the Delivering Better Oral Health Working Group.
This session is an introduction to growth charts, and includes information on how to plot measurements and when to become concerned about a child’s growth.
This session is the first of two in this series focusing on attachment and wellbeing. This first session will provide an overview of attachment whilst the second (Positive Parenting and Parenting Issues/Promoting Attachment and Wellbeing Part 2: Practice) will explore the range of attachment-based interventions that help to foster secure attachment.
In order to access the Healthy Child Programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.
To view the Healthy Child Programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.
The Healthy Child Programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this elearning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.
Further details are available here.
If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.
To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.
If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Healthy Child Programme, please contact elfh directly.
For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.
In the event that you do not qualify for free access to the Healthy Child Programme, you are able to license access through eIntegrity, a community-interest company established for this purpose.
You can check whether or not you qualify for free access by clicking on the ‘Register’ button above.
For more information on the licensing options available for the Healthy Child Programme, please visit the eIntegrity website.
Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.