Children’s Young People Improvement collaborative recognises the work of project team

A health visiting improvement project team – led by Associate Lead Nurse, Toni Barker – has had its work praised by members of today’s Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee after they successfully gained two national improvement awards.

The team’s financial inclusion project, in partnership with the Council’s Welfare Support Team, fought off stiff competition from across Scotland, winning in the category of ‘Ensuring Children have the best start in Life’ – a project which focussed on addressing the impacts of inequalities and child poverty through ensuring families received all of the welfare benefits and financial support available to them.

Analysis illustrated that the total benefit to families was around £13,600 – with an average weekly gain for the families of £1,035.

On the back of its success and recognition, the project is now being rolled out across Highland health visiting teams.

Furthermore, the team also celebrated a win in the "People’s Choice” award, which was achieved through the votes of over 650 delegates at the national conference with plaudits for Highland from both Professor Jason Leitch and Dr Harry Burns.

Councillor Linda Munro, Chair of the Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee, said:  “It is fantastic to see projects like this being recognised on a national level and these awards are well-deserved.  In addition, such recognition illustrates the benefit of close-working between different sections of Highland Council to produce the best possible outcomes for our service users and to ensure that they are receiving all of the financial support they are entitled to.”

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