Two national e-learning modules have been developed by the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) to train health visitors to reduce the number of accidents that children experience.
The two modules focus on reducing unintentional injuries in children under the age of five in and around the home. The modules identify times when children are most at risk of different accidents. For instance during early evening, when dinner is eaten, there is a higher risk of burns and scalding, while the end of the school day is linked to a higher than normal risk of a child being involved in a road accident.
Dr Cheryll Adams, director of the iHV, said: 'This new e-learning developed by the iHV with the CAPT is now available to all health visitors and their teams to upskill them for working with parents to help reduce common accidents such as head injuries, and burns and scalds.'
The modules are intended to train health visitors to manage these risks and also to allow them to educate parents on the risks, and provide advice on how to prevent children being subject to unnecessary accidents.
Dr Adams added: 'Accident prevention is a public health priority and achievable if parents understand how accidents are directly related to the developmental age of their child and vulnerable times of the day.'
The e-learning modules have been released as part of Child Safety Week which ran between 1 and 7 June.