Call for youth workers to be based in all hospitals
Laura McCardle
Friday, November 28, 2014
Youth workers should be installed in all hospital emergency departments, a leading doctor has told MPs.
During a hearing by the home affairs committee on gangs and youth crime, Emer Sutherland, emergency medicine consultant at King’s College Hospital in London, said that all young people seeking emergency medical help could benefit from the support of youth workers, regardless of the presence of gang violence in the local area.
“Our youth workers are not single issue youth workers, [they’re] thinking about children who don’t meet the child and adolescent mental health services threshold or children who might be being sexually exploited,” she said.
“Those children and young people are in all emergency departments.
“While you may not need a full extended-hours presence in every department, I think most young people would benefit from a more integrated service.”
Sutherland told MPs that her hospital’s partnership with charity Redthread, which sees youth workers support young patients, has helped medical staff overcome barriers and obtain information about how a young person sustained their injuries.
“Our nurses particularly, and junior doctors, are very aware that they are not getting the whole story from young people,” she said.
“They are aware that there is something else happening – the number of young people who [tell health workers they] fall on glass in the area surrounding my department is quite terrifying.
“They regard us as part of the establishment but they are very comfortable with the youth worker model and we find that the story that we’ve been given will change as it’s given to the youth worker, even in one sitting.”
Similarly, John Poynton, chief executive of Redthread, told MPs that young people seem to value youth workers more than medical staff due to their voluntary capacity.
“There’s no statutory agency and they can choose to say ‘no, I’m not ready to talk about this’,” he said.
“The team approach them in that very solution-focused way. They look to the future.”
Poynton told the committee that the initiative, launched at King’s College Hospital nine years ago, had recently expanded into St Mary’s Hospital in London and that he is working with the mayor of London’s police and crime team to develop a pan-London model.