Children and Families Health and Wellbeing Single Point of Access (CaFSPA)
The CaFSPA, often referred to as the hub, is a central point of contact for the service. You can call if you need to speak directly to a Health Visitor, School Nurse or Nursery Nurse for advice, support or guidance. Our team of administrators can book or change an appointment for you. The CafSPA operates Monday to Friday 9am-5pm (excluding bank holidays).
The 0-19 service can be contacted on a single freephone number: 0808 178 0611 (press option 1)
ChatHealth
ChatHealth is a text message service for parents/carers and young people to ask for health and wellbeing advice and is available between 09:00 and 17:00 Monday to Friday. Outside of these times, anyone who texts the service receives a message explaining where to get help if their question is urgent, and when they can expect a response.
Messages sent to the dedicated number are delivered to a secure website and responded to by one of the trained health professionals in the Families Health and Wellbeing team. Texts are usually replied to within one working day.
We do not usually inform parents, teachers or anyone else if a young person contacts the service. We might inform someone if we were concerned about their safety, but we would usually speak to the young person first. Your messages are stored and can be seen by other healthcare staff who follow the same confidentiality rules. We aim to reply to you within one working day and you should get an immediate response to confirm we have received your text. Texts will not be seen outside of normal working hours.
If you are a young person and need help before you hear back from us, contact a member of school staff or your doctor. Our text number does not receive voice calls or MMS picture messages. We support messaging from UK mobile numbers only (which does not include messages sent from landlines, international mobile numbers and some 'number masking' mobile apps). Prevent our service from sending messages to you by texting STOP to our number. Messages are charged at your usual rate.