Health visitors and school nurses from MPFT's Families Health and Wellbeing 0 to 19 Service have launched a podcast series in a bid to reach more parents looking for health advice for children and young people.

In the first episode, presenters and Specialist Community Public Health Nurses, Caroline Campbell and Carol Parry discuss button batteries and why they're dangerous to children. They provide practical hints and tips on how to keep children safe from harm and how to identify everyday household items which use button batteries.

Specialist Community Public Health Nurse, Caroline Campbell, who dreamt up the idea of introducing a podcast to better support parents and families said: “I had the idea for a podcast series last year as we were keen for the Families Health and Wellbeing 0 - 19 Service to offer an additional platform for the sharing of public health messages to families in Staffordshire.

“The podcast aims to provide bite sized content on short topics. They add another element to our current digital offer of website, social media, Hub, ChatHealth (SMS service) and virtual group programme. I believe our podcasts will complement the excellent work our health visitors and school nurses do face-to-face every day.”

Co-host and colleague, Carol Parry, who is also a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse added: “We recognise that the world is increasingly digital, so it makes sense to deliver public health messages on digital platforms which are attractive and accessible. We have a long list of topics for the future and look forward to collaboration with families and other professionals.”

The podcast is available to listen to on MPFT’s podcast channel: https://anchor.fm/mpft or Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Pocket Casts and Radio Public. The next episode from the Families Health and Wellbeing 0 to 19 Service is ‘Crying Babies, You Can Cope’.

The MPFT podcast channels includes a range podcasts from the Trust’s mental health, physical health and social care services and discussions about wider projects and initiatives taking place across the Trust.