The Brighton and Hove Hospital Youth Worker (HYW) programme aims to deliver preventative interventions and support to young people aged 11-17 who are admitted to the Royal Alexandra Hospital Children’s Emergency Department, with additional risk factors, including violence and offending concerns and other social or protective factors issues.
The programme is funded by the Sussex Violence Reduction Partnership and the Rockinghorse Children’s Charity, and is delivered by the Trust for Developing Communities (TDC).
In autumn 2023, NCB was commissioned to undertake a process and impact evaluation of a new model of the programme, which was introduced in May 2023.
The aims were to:
- understand the barriers, enablers, strengths and limitations of the new intervention model;
- understand perspectives on the impact of the HYW programme, with a particular focus on young people’s mental health, referral processes, and related NHS priorities; and
- provide recommendations for the future delivery and evaluation of the programme.