Shropshire’s public health team and Young Health Champions join up to design new GP leaflet for young people
Shropshire Council’s public health team have been working with Shropshire’s Young Health Champions to produce a young people-friendly leaflet about what to expect when visiting any local GP practice.
The GPs leaflet is aimed at young people from 13 to 20 years old, and aims to provide children and young people with accessible and down-to-earth information on important messages about confidentiality and appointment choices, as well as practical details such as telephone numbers, opening hours and public transport routes.
The creation of the leaflet was driven by feedback from young people who felt there was a need to improve GPs information, and the “You’re Welcome” quality criteria, a Government policy which sets out principles to help commissioners and service providers to improve the suitability of NHS and non-NHS health services for young people.
The first batch of leaflets will go into Albrighton Medical Practice, who were accredited with the Department of Health’s “‘You’re Welcome” quality standard last year. To gain this standard, services needed to demonstrate that they are young people-friendly, including having written accessible information about their service.
Abi Fraser, 15, one of Shropshire’s Young Health Champions, commented:
“Before I worked on this leaflet I wasn’t really sure if I could visit my GP on my own and if it would be confidential; I don’t think many other young people know this either. Working with Val Cross and other Young Health Champions to create this leaflet I found out lots of information that surprised me.
“Learning that if I visited the GP it would be confidential, and that I could make an appointment in school time to stop anyone at home asking awkward questions, was really helpful. I have a good relationship with my mum, but I know not everyone is so lucky, and the information in this leaflet will be really important for young people like that.”
Karen Calder, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for health, and Chair of Shropshire’s Health and Well-being Board, said:
“It’s so encouraging to see young people actively taking part and working with health colleagues to ensure better health outcomes for young people. Shropshire’s Young Health Champions have played a key part in making sure GPs information is accessible to young people.”
Val Cross, Shropshire Council’s health development project officer, added:
“We’ve been delighted to work with the Young Health Champions who wanted the information in their GPs leaflet to be simple but informative. I went to a Health Champions event last year and spoke to different young people who had a specific interest in working on this with me, and subsequently signed up to form a group to create this leaflet.
“As a result, the young people have come up with a bright and vibrant leaflet which clearly explains in their words what to expect when they visit their GP.”
Dr Caron Morton MBE, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s Accountable Officer, said:
“It’s great that Shropshire’s young people are taking such a proactive role in designing and developing information that will help their peers. Health care can be complicated and sometimes daunting for people, so making sure that we all do everything we can to provide information and advice that makes sense is vital. This is another example of the great work of Shropshire’s Young Health Champions.”
It is planned that Shropshire’s Young Health Champions will roll out the project to other GPs around the county.
