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Jig-So Children’s Centre is a well established charitable company entering its 20th year and based in Cardigan Ceredigion. The board of Trustees employee 10 highly skilled staff member as well as running a volunteer programme. Jig-So is user led with an open door policy.
The organisation delivers services to support children (0-14 years), young people and their families/carers in Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. Jig-So engaged with 222 different families in the centre alone between April 2010 to 2011, this did not include the very many families we engage with at our various community events. During school term the children are, in the main, pre-school age or home educated children. All aspects of our work is to do with alleviating child poverty. Further to this we have our own strategy on health and wellbeing which we continue to develop in support of families.
Jig-So welcomes this enquiry into Children’s Oral Health in Wales, in particular, those points you raised with regards to access to this programme- for your information the local primary school of cardigan has been on the Healthy Schools Scheme for a significant period and also The Designed to Smile Programme.
At the end of April 2011 I emailed a request to the Health Board in Lampeter to ask if Jig-So could sign up to the programme. I was somewhat disappointed with the return response that the programme ‘had been targeted at schools highest in need in Ceredigion for the time being, it is anticipated that this programme will be rolled out in the future to all settings’. To date, we at Jig-So, have had no further communication on this matter. A brief standard letter was attached to the response I received (please see attached for your information). I find this response contradicts what was stated on the Health in Wales website 14th Jan 2011 ‘WAG have now expanded to nurseries and playgroups’ and likewise the same statement appeared on the Dental Health Imaging website 19th Jan 2011. Much has been said that the programme is delivered in areas of deprivation, Cardigan is a designated Flying Start area with 2 out of 3 wards recording highest index of child deprivation in Ceredigion. Jig-So engages with significant numbers of children who will attend Cardigan Primary School.
Jig-So staff do support children in a variety of ways concerning oral health i.e. healthy eating, breastfeeding support and weaning but we feel it would be of great benefit for Jig-So to be actively involved in the Design to Smile Programme.
Having done, albeit a small consultation, on the health visitors input on this subject I would put it to you that generally health visitors have heavy workloads and groups like Jig-So, who engage with significant numbers of 0-3 year olds (and now through our rural network of satellite sessions), we are better placed to deliver a more detailed programme than health visitors.
We hope this will benefit your deliberations.
Linda Grace
Chair of Trustees
Canolfan Plant Jig-So Children’s Centre