Background:

This initiative was started up in Enfield and Haringey hospitals after a vulnerable patient disappeared. A 14 year old girl presented to ED in Haringey after an assault on the street. She had facial bruising, epistaxis, appeared not to have washed, smelling of cannabis and carrying a large bag. The Team contacted the OOH duty social worker but were unable to get through. During a resus call, the patient left the department and later, the social worker called back: patient was known to be missing from care. The police were called but sadly the patient was not found.

Approximately 4000 12-18 years from both Enfield and Haringey are treated in the ED annually. These include the hardest to reach, vulnerable adolescents - Looked after children (LAC), those who do not attend school/college and those in gangs. The idea of using grab bags was to deliver information about local services and also to educate – this was part of a bi-borough multiagency project which aimed to target child sexual exploitation (CSE), gang activity and missing children.

The bags were;

• Constructed on the advice of young people
• Resourced by multiple agencies
• Contents to tackle multiple important issues
• Feedback questionnaire included

The Feedback questionnaires were collated and young people responded positively to the Grab Bag Initiative;

• Many young people found the information provided useful
• The highest rated were condoms, helpline numbers and drug advice
• The few finding the ‘runaway’ information useful may represent some of the hardest to reach
• If young people are sharing the information received (e.g. the lip salve) it has the potential to reach the wider community

Aims and outcomes:

The aim of this initiative is to inform and educate young people on the services available to them for a range of issues, and to develop Alliance working with stakeholders, health and social care services. We will use a multi-disciplinary approach to target groups/individuals that are harder to reach, and to break down barriers to services.

We want to increase;

• Awareness of organisations and services available
• Accessibility to services
• Knowledge of who to speak to and where to go in specific situations
• Empowerment, self-care and responsibility within the youth community
• Support for young people with a range of issues
• Use of the right services

We want to decrease;

• Isolation and disengagement
• Gang culture 
• Stigma around certain issues
• Barriers in accessing services