ChatHealth

Text lines are open for parents and young people to ‘Chat Health’

It’s all part of the ChatHealth service that dozens of NHS organisations have adopted to give parents and young people more choice over how they anonymously access advice and support.

Experienced local public health nurses will be on hand to respond swiftly to texts between 9am and 5pm on weekdays – apart from bank holidays. They will reply to texts sent at night on the next working day, including during school holidays.

Three lines for three distinct groups

The Oxfordshire service, which launched today, has three numbers – each aimed at meeting the needs of specific groups. These are parents of children aged 0-4, parents of children aged 5-11 and young people themselves aged 11-19. Messages will be assigned to the most appropriately skilled healthcare professional rostered for the service that day.

The first two numbers are call ‘Oxfordshire Parentline’ and the service for young people is named ‘Oxfordshire ChatHealth’.

The rostered health visitor or school nurse responding to the text will either provide information or advice or signpost the user to appropriate services or sources of information.

There are also direct links to service information on the ChatHealth website:

• https://chathealth.nhs.uk/start-a-chat/h/OxfordHealthVisitors
• https://chathealth.nhs.uk/start-a-chat/h/OxfordSchoolHealthNurses
• https://chathealth.nhs.uk/start-a-chat/h/OxonTeens