Children First for Health – NHS website
I’ve come across a website recently that is particularly useful for parents and children alike. It’s an NHS website specifically aimed at children and their parents. NHS – Children First for Health
Tots
There is a Chlidren First for Health – Tots Section with some basic cartoons demonstrating the importance of sun protection, one explaining about having an operation involving a general anaesthetic, one about bullying and then one about washing hands.
Juniors
There is also a Children First for Health – Juniors Section with information about hospitals, equipment (such as X-ray machines) and information on the body. This is also presented using cartoon pictures.
Kids
The Children First for Health – Kins Section still uses cartoon style characters, but is more about giving the information as text. It provides information about hospitals, treatment and staying in hospital. As well as the normal description there are also quotes from other children that have experienced it first hand.
There is a particularly good Body Tour, which uses an interactive person allowing you to select the appropriate part and get a brief explanation about its function.
Teens
The Children First for Health – Teens Section provides the information in a much more adult way, but presents it in a youthful way to make it appealing to teenagers. As well as covering general diseases and information on hospitals, as the other sections do, it also covers matters that are particularly relevant including sexual health, exam stress and going through puberty.
It also has a separate boys and girls section, to tailor the information to the reader.
Families
Last, but not least, there is the Children First for Health – Families Section, which provides information for parents and families with questions about childrens health. Many of these are provided as links to other resources, but it is useful having all the information gathered into one place. As well as covering the illness and treatment, it includes information on preparing for a child going into hospital and finding hotels near to Children Hospitals to be able to stay near your child.
It also includes a good section on looking after babies and young children, although much of the information is taken from the BBC rather than being an original NHS resource.
The website is a real treasure trove of information, and my only surprise is not coming across it sooner, as I’ve certainly looked into some of the areas covered by the site and try and keep abreast of these kind of sites. Perhaps the site is fairly recent, but the domain has been around since 2003. In any case I’d certainly recommend it to parents or anyone who looks after children.