High praise from government minister
Date of release: 23 September 2024
A government Minister has praised a team which supports families, children and young people in Wolverhampton for the expert care it provides.
Janet Daby, Minister for Children and Families, visited staff from The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and service users at Graiseley Family Hub to find out more about Family Hubs and the Families First for Children Pathfinder (FFCP).
The FFCP programme aims to ensure early support, family help and intervention is available for families with challenges, to help them overcome adversity and stay together where possible.
A Family Hub is a place where children, young people and their families can go when they need support and access activities of which eight have been set up in Wolverhampton.
Minister Daby said: “I’ve loved my visit here today. It’s been great to meet all the people that help to support families, children and young people.
“Visiting the Family Hub, being able to have a tour and meet a young person today – it’s been delightful.
“I was impressed with the way in which I was able to meet representatives from the Health Visiting and School Nursing Services, the Police and Midwifery. It was great to hear about the support given to mothers in areas such as breastfeeding.
“I liked hearing about what’s being done with the LGBTQ+ community and how you’re meeting diverse needs.
“I get a sense that people have job satisfaction, and I observed that people have a genuine need to want to improve families and children’s lives.
“Actually, there was a lot I was impressed with.”
Minister Daby met staff from RWT’s School Nursing, Health Visiting and Community Midwife teams.
Catherine Draycott, School Nurse Team Leader, said: “It was really lovely today to welcome Minister Daby to Wolverhampton.
“We were honoured that Minister Daby took the time to sit with our 0-19 service and for her to be so interested in what we’re doing. The Minister asked us questions about our service, and I really felt that she took on board everything that we said. The Minister listened and was interested, and I think she could tell how passionate we are about developing the services in Wolverhampton.”
Marion Astbury, Matron for Health Visiting, said: “It was a real pleasure to speak to the Minister and Department for Education colleagues and be able to showcase the fantastic work being done by our staff.
“There was genuine interest in how we are supporting our families and the challenges we face in delivering our service.
“It was really lovely to hear our commissioners’ recognition of the high quality of work and support we offer to our local families in the discussions.”
Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, Cabinet member for Adults and Wellbeing for City of Wolverhampton Council said: “This visit has been a fantastic opportunity to showcase the collaboration between ourselves and the Wolverhampton 0-19 Service, as well as demonstrating how well we’ve managed to achieve frontline support for families.”
ENDS
- For further information, please email amy.downward@nhs.net
