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Information for practitioners

This page is for practitioners looking for information and resources on Family Hubs.

If you are working in, or interested in learning more about Family Hubs, you will find a variety of resources to enhance your knowledge and practice. Including best practice, research findings, training and workforce development.

For more research relating to Family Hubs, visit the National Centre for Family Hubs Resource Library.

Supporting families early - Plymouth's Early Help Strategy

In Plymouth we refer to Early Help for Children as ‘Supporting Families Early’. Our Early Help Strategy outlines our long-term vision and priorities, emphasizing how we as partners and communities, will continue to collaborate to achieve the best outcomes for all children and young people within Plymouth.

This strategy highlights our collective commitment to delivering the right support at the right time and place for children, young people, and their families. Our approach includes early support regardless of the child or young person's age, responding promptly when problems emerge or re-emerge. By doing so, we aim to prevent concerns from increasing. We offer support where children and families are, ensuring that every child and young person in Plymouth has the opportunity to thrive.

Read the Plymouth Early Help Strategy.


Safeguarding

The Plymouth Safeguarding Partnership professional’s page provides information and policies, procedures, documentation, updates and guidance across the multi-agency roles.

If you are worried about a child or young person, visit the Building Support partnership framework to understand the different levels of need families experience, and how to work with families to support children and young people, including where there are safeguarding concerns.

Training and workforce development

We recognise the vital role that practitioners/professionals play in shaping the future of our community. The training and workforce development resources we share are designed to empower professionals associated with Family Hubs.

We will provide a wide range of resources, training opportunities, and networking events to enhance the skills and knowledge of professionals working with families and children in Plymouth. Whether you are an early year’s practitioner, social worker, health visitor, or any other professional connected to the Family Hubs, we are here to support you.

The Plymouth Safeguarding Children Partnership offers a range of up-to-date statutory training.

Course information and bookings 2023 to 2024

ORCHA

Overview of the ORCHA Health App Library and Digital Health Formulary

Apps can improve health and wellbeing and can empower patients to self-manage their health.

NHS Devon has built 2 digital health platforms for professionals and the people we support:

  • Health App Library
  • Digital Health Formulary

These platforms host health apps which have been assessed by the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications (ORCHA) against 350+ safety criteria.

The Formulary enables health and care professionals to find health apps which have been approved to securely recommend (send) to your patients and the people you support.

The library only contains health apps which have met ORCHA’s strict safety criteria and do not require input or support from a health or care professional. If your patients or the people you support are looking for safe health apps, please direct them to the library.

Access the library at Plymouth’s Family Hub on NHS Devon.

Family Hubs newsletters

We produce Family Hubs newsletters every 2 months for all professionals and workers working with Family Hubs. The newsletter is distributed to help keep professionals and practitioners up to date about the development of the Family Hubs projects and opportunities that have arisen.

If you would like to receive this direct to your inbox, email [email protected] and we will add you to the mailing list.

Helping Families Early Conference

The Helping Families Early Conference is a reminder of how many people and organisations there are across Plymouth reaching children, young people and families to offer help and support at times of need.

The marketplace had 30 stalls with services sharing their work with families, to help early, to change lives and support better outcomes for children.

Around 170 people attended the conference to focus on combining our efforts to make a difference to children. The Event provided an opportunity to share the draft ‘Supporting Families Early Strategy’. Feedback and ideas will lead to the strategy updates and its launch, with workshops coming soon to make this our ‘One Plymouth’ approach to support all children to achieve the best outcomes for their health, wellbeing, relationships and development. 

You can still feedback on the strategy.

Getting support right relies on good understanding of needs and collaborative evidenced based approaches that we know can make a difference.

Resources from the day, including the Early help – Supporting Families Early DRAFT Strategy.

Helping families early

Early Help at Riverside