We Do Care – All About Health!
In November, the Care Ambassadors chatted all about health with Buckinghamshire’s health experts and leaders.
Introduction
Care Ambassadors are care-experienced young people and young adults who share their ideas and feedback to improve care services.
In November 2024, the Care Ambassadors welcomed senior colleagues in the health field, to talk about their experiences with health services and how things could be improved for care-experienced young people. Meanwhile, artist Elly captured the conversation in this digital art piece!
Attendees
The attendees at this session were:
- 9 Care Ambassadors
- Andy Fitton, Head of Buckinghamshire CAMHS, and member of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (BSCP)
- Gilly Attree, Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children and Looked After Children, and member of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (BSCP)
- Vicki Philpott, Senior Specialist Nurse for Children Looked After and Youth Justice and Support Team
- Nellie Reynolds, Senior Specialist Nurse for Children Looked After, Project Lead
- Elly Bazigos, Artist
- Angel, Krissie and Sam from the Youth Voice Bucks team
About the session
- To get to know each other, we started by decorating name plates to reflect our personalities and roles. We took it in turns to describe our name places to each other.
- Angel gave an introduction to the session and reminded us about our group agreement.
- Then, the Care Ambassadors did a ninja scavenger hunt to find question cards hidden around the room. These acted as conversation prompts, and we sat around discussing lots of health topics. You can see the key points from the conversation below, which are also shown in the digital illustration that artist Elly created during the conversation.
- Then we had a break and some snacks.
- Care Ambassador Miracle shared an update on the Staying Close project she has been a part of, and new Staying Close Nurse Nellie joined the session and introduced herself.
- Then we explored whether Care Experience should be adopted as a Protected Characteristic, and signed our Position Statement. You can read more about this below.
- Lastly, we checked out the final art piece by Elly, and covered a few points of Any Other Business. Andy and Gilly thanked the Care Ambassadors for sharing their experiences.
- During the session, a Quiet Space was available, and Youth Voice Bucks team member Sam acted as a Pastoral Lead to help make sure everyone felt safe and comfortable.
All About Health Discussion – our key points
Medical emergencies
- Lots of us have experienced medical emergencies – like breaking bones, going to A&E for chest pain, accidents and injuries.
- We know to go to A&E or call 999.
- Other adults supporting us and speaking on our behalf is often really important when it comes to our health.
Gender identity
- A few of us Care Ambassadors are either gender non-binary or trans.
- We find we can express our gender identity well and talk to other people about it – people are accepting and supportive.
- Andy told us about help available from CAMHS, GPs and School Nurses.
Eating healthily
- We have a good understanding of healthy diets – such as the food wheel, lots of vegetables – but being around people that aren’t healthy, the temptation of fast food and takeaways, and dietary requires / needs / allergies can make it harder to eat healthily.
Sleep habits
We know lots of top tips and healthy habits for getting a good night’s sleep:
- Making a bedtime routine, having an hour’s wind down time before bed, doing things that calm your mind and body, and avoiding blue light.
- Comforting food and drinks – hot Ribena / chocolate milk / herbal tea / cherries.
- Some of us like to have a bath, read a book, or watch TV / a movie.
Healthy habits
We shared some of our healthy habits:
- Showering and washing everyday
- Keeping our bed clean / changing bedding
- Exercise – walks, gym, running
Some of us recognise we do not have healthy habits (lots of energy drinks, takeaways) and that impacts our day-to-day health.
Making GP appointments
It’s a nightmare trying to get a GP appointment!
- Long wait times and restrictive processes, like having to phone to GP early in the morning, get in the way of being seen.
- Lots of us experience anxiety and find it scary to call – especially when the receptionist is rude.
- A particular barrier for young people in care / care leavers is that GP receptionists often don’t respect when a different adult calls on our behalf.
Often we give up and leave our health issues unresolved.
Vaccinations
- Overall, we believe in vaccinations to stay healthy.
- We have all experienced side-effects. Some are minor, like having a dead arm, but they can also leave us feeling unwell for days.
- Some of us don’t like needles. We had the first Covid jab, but it put us off going for follow-up boosters.
Leaving care health summary
- Gilly and Vicky reminded us about what a Leaving Care health summary is.
- Those of us who are over 18 couldn’t remember ours… we get so much information about housing, health, money and so on that these things can get lost!
Should Care Experience be a Protected Characteristic?
Introduction
- Lots of Councils are making care experience a protected characteristic, as a way of promoting equality for looked after children and young people.
- Currently, the protected characteristics are: Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.
- Lots of people believe that adding care experience as a protected characteristic will protect care-experienced children, young people and adults from discrimination, and will lead to better support and opportunities for them.
- But other people believe it could lead to more stigma and pressure for care-experienced people.
- While this is a national debate, areas can choose to adopt care experience as a protected characteristic locally.
- It is a big decision with lots of factors to consider. Gilly had identified that an official stance on the matter from the Care Ambassadors would be a useful in deciding whether Buckinghamshire should adopt care experience as a protected characteristic.
The Care Ambassadors’ discussion and conclusion
We explored this topic through an activity.
The Care Ambassadors picked out key points in the debate from boxes. They sorted them into “Pro”, “Con”, and “Just a Fact” – by placing the printed points in different parts of the room.
We discussed these points together.
We decided there were more pros than cons, and overall the pros outweighed the cons, so we decided that:
Care Experience should be adopted as a protected characteristic in Buckinghamshire.
We completed and signed a Position Statement to confirm this.
Next Steps
All About Health Discussion Points
- The key points from the All About Health discussion are being shared at various leadership meetings, including the BSCP meeting on 10/12/24, and the Corporate Parenting Panel meeting on 18/03/2025.
- Nellie will keep these factors in mind while she is supporting care-experienced young people with their health.
- Gilly and Vicki are seeking to improve young people’s access to GP appointments, especially by raising awareness of the right and role of other adults communicating with GPs about care-experienced young people’s health needs.
Care Experience as a Protected Characteristic
- Over the next 6 months, Gilly will be campaigning for care experience to be adopted as a protected characteristic in Buckinghamshire.
- The Care Ambassadors’ Position Statement will be used to support this mission.
- Buckinghamshire’s Corporate Parenting Panel will discuss this topic in March 2025.
Thank You message for the Care Ambassadors
Gilly, Andy and Krissie spoke about the All About Health session and shared the key messages raised by the Care Ambassadors at the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership meeting on Tuesday 10 December 2024.
Following this, the Independent Chair of the BSCP, Walter McCulloch, provided this Thank You message:
Hello Care Ambassadors,
My name is Walter. I chair the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (BSCP), which is a group of leaders from the Council, health organisations, CAMHS, the Police and more. Andy and Gilly, who visited your meeting on 04/11/24, are part of the BSCP.
I am writing to say thank you for sharing your experiences, via Andy and Gilly, and the art piece you created with Elly. It is important to us as leaders to know what young people are experiencing, so that we can run and coordinate services as best we can to support young people.
We are going to follow up in particular about your experience of trying to get a GP appointment, and we are impressed at the informed decision you made about care experience being a protected characteristic. Gilly will be advocating for Care-Experience as a Protected Characteristic to be adopted in Buckinghamshire, and we look forward to seeing this project develop.
Thank you for sharing your voices via We Do Care.
From Walter
For more information
If you would like more information about this session or the Care Ambassadors, please email YouthVoiceBucks@Buckinghamshire.gov.uk.