Free health app for parents
Help is at hand this Easter for parents seeking advice on caring for their pre-school children when they fall ill.
NHS South Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group have joined forces with Cheshire East Council to develop a free app for parents and carers of children aged 0 – 5. The CATCH app (which stands for Common Approach to Children’s Health) is available for free on the App Store for iPhones and iPads, and on Play Store for Androids and tablets.
CATCH provides:
- NHS-approved health advice
- highly-localised information about healthcare services and support groups in Cheshire East
- timely notification of key health dates such as childhood immunisations
- an interactive map of Cheshire East healthcare services such as GP surgeries, dentists and pharmacies.
The app is also highly personalised as parents can input their child’s date of birth and it will only present health information and reminders that are relevant to their child’s age.
CATCH came about as a result of a study undertaken by the council’s public health department, which found that A&E attendance among 0-5 year olds in
Cheshire East was much higher than the national average. And while taking children to A&E is the right thing to do in some circumstances, the research showed that a large number of Cheshire East parents were being given advice and a leaflet rather than treatment for their child. This suggested that self-care would have been a better option for many of the children.
For more information on CATCH or to download it, visit http://www.catchapp.co.uk/
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