Integrated care and co-production during a pandemic: responding to the needs of local populations using infographics.

Connecting Care for Children, an integrated care collaborative in northwest London, responded to local child health needs during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic through the co-production of infographics. Here we describe the development and evaluation of co-produced infographics using quality improvement methodology, to highlight their effectiveness in swiftly responding to local community health concerns.

Leading integrated child health through COVID-19: responding with local communities, for local communities

ContextConnecting Care for Children (CC4C) is a leading partnership organisation, that works alongside local providers of child health and with local communities, to support the delivery of integrated child health services.CC4C’s model of care puts the General Practioner (GP) at the centre. Joint clinics with GPs and Paediatricians, and multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings are hosted by primary care centres across central NW London.The IssueOrganisational changes instituted at the start of Covid-19, messaged to CYP and families not to attend primary care centres and Accident and Emergency.The challenge for health professionals was accessing those with health needs and delivering joined-up care without the facility of face-to-face clinics and MDT meetings.Assessment of the IssueThrough established community networks, CC4C listened and heard that local primary care teams and communities were in need of child health leadership.Primary care physicians requested paediatric support to manage cases within the new healthcare landscape. Carers, struggling with uncertainty, loss of control and access to services, requested health information from trusted sources.InterventionJoint clinics and MDTs swiftly moved to virtual platforms. Simple clinical guides to support management of acutely unwell CYP were created and shared through primary care channels. Bundles of information were co-designed and shared with local carers.CC4C co-hosted child health GP webinars and collaborated with local community groups to organise parent/carer webinars.ImpactGPs reported increased confidence with patient management, improved ability to support families to self-manage and continued interprofessional learning.Carers reported reduced anxiety and more appropriate use of healthcare.Understanding local need, designing responsive interventions, reaching out via existing community groups and harnessing peer-to-peer influence has allowed for our success.