So what sort of nurse are you? Nursing in a social care setting: Looking after children’s views and stories
Looked after children is a term introduced by the Children Act (1989), which refers to all children in public care, including those who may live at home with their parents but who are the subject of care orders. There were 67,050 looked after children in England and Wales at 31 March 2012 (DfF 2012).
This figure has been rising over the last few years. My practice area is a busy cosmopolitan London borough and currently we have in the region of 550 looked after children per year and approximately 200 young people who are referred to as care leavers that is they are young people aged over 18 who have previously been in the care system as looked after children. The studies that have been carried out to date tell us this group of children and young people are reluctant to go to health services for help, or assistance. This concerns those whose job it is to make sure that everyone gets the same assessment and access to health services and treatment.
All of the reports and documents produced by government bodies in the last few years have indicated that looked after children are also particularly prone to long term ill health and emotional and mental health difficulties (NICE 2012). Some of this is due, in part, to the experiences they have had, such as neglect, abuse, social isolation, and poverty. The reports also suggest that looked after children and care leavers do not trust health professionals and are fearful about attending health appointments. However, my professional experience of being a looked after children’s nurse has been that the vast majority of looked after children and care leavers are very happy to meet with the nurses and engage in a meaningful way. This has lead to achieving high levels of attainment in the key performance indicators that the government set all Local authorities as part of their mandatory role and responsibilities (DH 2009).
As a looked after children’s nurse I have become very interested as to why, and what it is about being a nurse, that makes a difference to looked after children and care leavers. I would like to understand some of the reasons why they are happy to see us and let us help them with their health issues. Therefore, I would like to research what it is about nurses working in social care that makes a difference to looked after children and care leavers health, but perhaps more importantly what do looked after children and care leavers they think about this and what do they say about it when asked?
A further aim of this research is to gather examples of what patients think works and what doesn’t work and what’s helpful and what’s not to them. I will invite looked after children and care leavers to talk to me in an interview and tell me about their experiences.