AQW 7887/16-21 Written question to the Minister of Health
To ask the Minister of Health for an update on the status of the Infant Mental Health Strategy being developed by the Public Health Agency.
Asked by Paula Bradshaw MLA on 24 November 2016
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 24 November 2016
- Answer due by
- 9 December 2016
- Answered
- 8 December 201614 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Health
- Priority question
- No
Answer
The Infant Mental Health Framework was issued and disseminated widely from April 2016 and can be accessed at http://pha.site/IMHF.
The Framework represents a commitment by the health and social care sector, as well as academic, research, voluntary and community organisations, to improve interventions from the ante-natal period through to children aged 3 years old. It has three key priorities:
to ensure that commissioners and policy makers are fully informed of the latest evidence and interventions;
to provide practitioners across health, social care and education disciplines with the skills to support parents and children in the development of positive infant mental health; and
to encourage service development to ensure effective delivery of evidence based interventions for families with children where there are significant developmental risks.
Since its publication in April, governance arrangements have been established including a multi-agency Implementation Group to oversee the delivery of the framework. The Implementation Group had its first meeting June 2016 and is scheduled to meet again in January 2017.