• Bolton’s 0-19 service has worked with Bolton Together to conduct a series of engagement sessions with children, young people and parents.
• The engagement provided better understanding of what they are looking for and what they need from their health and care services.
• A summary report including the recommendations gathered from our engagement has been published.

Young people from across Bolton have spoken up about what matters to them when it comes to health and care services.

Young people like Alisha Issa, age 17, Chair of the Bolton Youth Healthcare Transformation Board,

It’s crucial for young people to be involved in the process of re-shaping healthcare, as we will be the next generation to trust and rely on our healthcare system.

Bolton’s 0-19 service is working with Bolton Together whose members conducted a range of engagement with children, young people and parents to get a better understanding of what they are looking for, what they need and what isn’t working from the health and care services provided for them.

Louise McDade, Chief Executive Officer, Bolton Together said:

It is so important that the services we provide to our young people, are designed by using their voices so that they are tailored to their specific needs and wants and easily accessible to them.

“Our members learned so much from being connected in the community and hearing from the service users first hand. For example, many young people said they didn’t know what kind of help their school nurse was able to provide so they didn’t visit them. This means we need to do better at promoting the services available to the young people of Bolton, and thanks to their feedback we will!

Bolton Together worked with five members, Bolton Lads and Girls, Bolton Toy Library, Bolton Wanderers in the Community, Breaking Barriers and Youth Leads UK.

Partners engaged over 600 children, young people and parents via one on one sessions, social media, focus groups and questionnaires and collected valuable feedback about how they felt about the health services provided to them and what they need from those services.

Sharon Martin, Director of Director of Strategy, Digital and Transformation at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said,

We are so grateful to the young people and their parents for the feedback and recommendations they have provided to us. We have taken this valuable information and will be incorporating it into our plans for the improvement of our 0-19 service, but also we will use it to transform and evolve our other services for them and for future generations.

A summary report including the recommendations gathered from the engagement with Bolton’s young people and parents about the health and wellbeing services they receive has recently been published. Partners from the key organisations involved gathered to celebrate the launch of the report and share and discuss their findings with each other. During the event, a plan of action was agreed to drive the improvements that will ensure high quality and effective care for our young people and parents in Bolton.

Read the full report on the Bolton Together website.