The Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists (APCP) are celebrating their official 50th Birthday on Wednesday 22 February by launching a new online Early Years Movement Platform, part of the Starting2Move project.
The Early Years Movement hub aims to provide a communal, virtual space for parents and healthcare professionals with information and resources to encourage movement for all from the very beginning of life.
Created by Newcastle physiotherapist
Jemma Bell is a senior children’s physiotherapist at Newcastle’s Great North Children’s Hospital who created and led on the Starting2Move initiative.
Now, working with a number of likeminded colleagues including fellow paediatric physiotherapists Penny Walsh and Francis Slowie, and paediatric occupational therapist Lindsay Carr she has led on setting up the Association’s new Early Years Movement hub.
Jemma explains “In the first years of life, when we are on a steep learning trajectory, our movement experiences have a huge influence on our physical, cognitive, language and socio-emotional development.
“None of us choose our birth characteristics or the situations that we’re born into. We know some of us experience greater barriers to enjoying the benefits of movement. We want to help to reduce avoidable health inequalities by supporting healthy movement for all, from the very beginning of life”
Credible and inclusive information
Alan Macdonald, Head of Physiotherapy at the Newcastle Hospitals and Chair of the APCP says “The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy had already produced a number of brilliant campaigns to support movement and physical activity for adults.
Jemma continues “We wanted to create a space for families and professionals where they could access credible and inclusive early years movement information, offering a range of practical tips and resources to support movement in the early years of life.”
“The APCP has a wealth of knowledge to contribute to improving population health outcomes and reducing health inequalities. We wanted to replicate this approach in the field of paediatric physiotherapy to share important messages about movement for babies, children and young people.”
The hub has a wide range of topics such as why movement is important, practical tips to support early years movement, movement concerns and an A-Z of resources.
The information has been designed to be as easy to understand as possible and complemented through the drawings by colleague and talented illustrator Hannah Littler-Smith which provide inclusive and representative images for patients and families.
Jemma says “We owe huge credit to Hannah who helped us to bring our messages to life.
“Furthermore, we are incredibly grateful to Penny Walsh and Lindsay Carr and the Great North Children’s Hospital Foundation who shared their Don’t Delay the Play Project with us, contributing an initial bundle of illustrations.”
Child development : Don’t Delay the Play
Moving Towards a Fairer Future
Of the future of the Starting2Move campaign Jemma says “Paediatric physiotherapists use their expertise in movement to promote healthy development, and healthy lifestyles, for children and young people from birth to 19 years.
“We want to continue to build upon the Starting2Move project to transform our paediatric physiotherapy information for all ages into this more modern format that we’ve started for the early years age group.
“Moving Towards a Fairer Future is our vision for how we will move on from the foundations that the Starting2Move project has provided. However, this project is not yet funded.
“To continue to act upon our ideas to advance movement support for all of the paediatric population that we serve, we need to secure more resources and partnerships.”
If you have resources to share, or would like to partner with us in our efforts, please do get in touch via office@apcp.org.uk or with jemmabell@nhs.net
Professional Networks
The Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists is the recognized Paediatric Physiotherapy Professional Network for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), which provides this website.
The CSP is the professional, educational and trade union body for the UK’s 60,000 chartered physiotherapists, physiotherapy students and support workers.
