Getting the best start in life
We want to ensure that children in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw have the best possible start in life. Much of that starts with keeping families well and receiving good maternity care.
In South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw, four of our five Places are higher than the national average for the number of children in low income families. We have high rates of neonatal, infant and child mortality, high numbers of obesity, high teenage mother rates, high smoking in pregnancy rates and the uptake of some immunisations in some communities is lower than it should be. We also have high levels of agency and locum cover in some of our children's and maternity services, in part due to a national shortage in specialist staff.
Partnership working is already making significant improvements across the region by standardising how we do things for common and urgent conditions and improving access and availability of key health services, as well as developing new resources like the Healthier Together website.
Future plans for South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw include working more closely with the voluntary sector to improve the experiences of families through ongoing, relevant health support such as extending out-of-hours services in the community and promoting prevention through educational schemes.
