An e-learning resource for practitioners who work with children
The Healthy Child Programme is designed to support the professional development of healthcare practitioners who care for young children under the age of five.
During the programme, you'll complete a wide range of highly interactive and informative e-learning sessions. Topics covered include health promotion, positive parenting, development and behaviour, speech and language and safeguarding. The programme features various case studies and self-assessment exercises to support your learning. It is designed to complement and enhance other training methods, such as face-to-face teaching.
Accessible online, the Healthy Child Programme is ideally suited if you're a health visitor, nurse, midwife, general practitioner, paediatrician, obstetrician, dietician or speech/language therapist.
The content has been written by a team of authors and editors drawn from across the healthcare professions. The project has been overseen by a consortium of professional bodies, led by the UK’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and supported by Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare.
Any questions?
If you have any further queries on our programmes, please take a look at our frequently asked questions or contact us.
The Healthy Child Programme includes 12 modules, divided up into 76 interactive e-learning sessions.
Take a look at the course overview below or download the full curriculum.
Module 1 – Healthy Child Programme Basics
This module introduces you to the Healthy Child Programme and the background and philosophies behind it. This includes an overview of the preventive child health programme adopted in England, incorporating screening and developmental surveillance, immunisation, health promotion and parental support. Further sessions cover leadership, monitoring and quality within the programme.
Module 2 – Communication, Record Keeping and Inter-professional Working
These sessions provide guidance on keeping good records in practice to promote effective communication and inter-professional working. There is also useful information on the Personal Child Health Record.
Module 3 – Family Health
Addressing a wide range of topics, this module provides resources on the health of the family. Topics include the role of the father, the socio-emotional environment, hard-to-reach families and child resilience.
Module 4 – Safeguarding
This module builds upon existing safeguarding materials, providing additional learning sessions on vulnerable children (including looked-after children) to provide support in this challenging area of practice.
Module 5 – Positive Parenting and Parenting Issues
Addressing a range of topics around parenting, this module looks at how factors such as attachment and well-being, parenting support and parental relationships affect the health of the child.
Module 6 – Development and Behaviour
Child development in the first five years of life is a critical time for any family. These sessions review early child development and include guidance on dealing with challenges around feeding, sleeping and toileting, as well as common emotional and behavioural problems.
Module 7 – Speech Language and Communication Needs
The development of a child’s communication skills is the focus of this module. Typical and atypical development is considered, along with bilingualism and social aspects of communication.
Module 8 – Growth and Nutrition
From pre-pregnancy through to adulthood, nutrition plays a vital role in healthy development. Focusing on the first five years of life, this module offers guidance on nutrition, feeding, weaning, growth and growth charts, the social context of food and obesity in the early years.
Module 9 – Immunisation
These sessions deliver guidance for healthcare professionals who work with families, providing advice and addressing concerns around immunisation.
Module 10 – Health Promotion
This module outlines vital areas of interest in promoting health from the start in pregnancy through to the first five years of life. With a focus on smoking, obesity, mental health and substance misuse, this module also includes topics such as dental health and injury prevention.
Module 11 – Screening
Screening forms a key part of the Healthy Child Programme. This module outlines the importance of screening and describes the timeline for screening in the first five years of life.
Module 12 – Health Visiting Model of Practice
This session forms the first stage of developing a model of practice that health professionals and families can use to guide work on the Healthy Child Programme.
The e-learning sessions below demonstrate the range of materials available through this project. The sessions include interactive elements, case studies and self-assessments to reinforce learning.
Home Environment
This session focuses on the physical, emotional and social contexts of family life in the 21st century.
Feeding Pre-term Infants in Neonatal Units
This session introduces learners to the nutritional needs of the pre-term infant. In this session, we also focus on pre-term enteral feeding, including the use of pre-term breastmilk and formula and establishing oral feeding.
Single-user access to the Healthy Child Programme for 12 months costs £75 (excluding VAT where applicable). To purchase a licence, please click on the ‘Register’ button below.
Once you have submitted your details and your payment has been processed, your account details (user name and password) will be emailed to you within two to three working days.
Discounted rate
The full suite of Healthy Child e-learning programmes, including Healthy Child, Healthy School Child and Adolescent Health, can be purchased at a discounted rate of £150 (+VAT). This represents a significant saving on the cost of purchasing these licences individually. Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for details.
We can also arrange for multiple or multi-year licences. Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for details.
