Dudley Strategy for Tackling Health Inequalities 2010-15

Number of Pupils AchievingEarly cognitive development:Although the Healthy Child Programme forms the basis for the Dudley Antenatal,Neonatal and Child Health Surveillance Protocol, (implemented across Dudley withthe Health Visitor as the lead professional), there are no audits currently availablewhich give an indication of the level and distribution of cognitive development acrossthe early years child population in Dudley. Indeed, to date, the computerised recordsystems available have not even allowed fidelity to the protocol to be audited, as therequisite patient based system with appropriate coding has not been in place.Data on children‟s attainment at the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which isassessed at reception year in primary school, is available. The data for Dudleychildren for 2009 show a skewed distribution (Figure 5)Figure 5EYFSP 2009 for Dudley1201008060402001 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 81 85 89 93 97 101 105 109 113 117EYFSP Total ScoreHowever, if the distributions are looked at by IMD quintile there is evidence of asocial gradient in median scores29