Best Beginnings charity has been 'embedding' the award-winning, clinically-assured Baby Buddy app into local maternity and early years pathways since 2014. With the new Baby Buddy Local programme, we aim to embed Baby Buddy into more local areas across the UK.
Baby Buddy Local is a 12-month implementation programme. It is specially designed to reach families at risk of poor health outcomes by integrating the Baby Buddy app across local health & social support services and community organisations. We aim to reach more families by empowering healthcare professionals to promote Baby Buddy messages.
Since launching Baby Buddy 2.0 in November 2021, we have commissioned 4 new Baby Buddy Local regions: Surrey Heartlands; Northeast London LMNS; Southwest London LMNS; and Leeds City Council. As of 2023 we are now also working with Walsall Family Hubs Programme and Southwark City Council.
Baby Buddy Local aims to support healthcare professionals and families to work together to improve health outcomes across the UK. Each programme of implementation is bespoke to the specific needs of the local area and is designed to strengthen the virtual support that is available for parents and families. The programme has been designed to implement Baby Buddy app in a consistent and sustainable way, to strengthen existing signposting and to increase the knowledge and confidence of parents and expectant families.
A typical 12-month Baby Buddy Local implementation programme will include:
An evidence review and assessment of priority health needs and groups
A localised feature in the Baby Buddy app for all local services, available for every user signing up
A series of online trainings and bespoke e-learning for healthcare professionals and community organisations
A Baby Buddy launch event
A media campaign – collaborating with local media channels and social media opportunities
Bespoke Baby Buddy promotion materials – including leaflets, posters, stickers, badges and pens
Access to a live data dashboard with optional quarterly data reports to support local public health intelligence
Highlights from Baby Buddy Local so far:
In NorthEast London there is a 43% increase in usage of the app in 2023. Almost 80% of the users are from minority ethnic groups
On average, Baby Buddy app reaches over 43% of the birth cohort in embedded areas
11% of Baby Buddy users reported that English is not their first language. This is higher than the national average of 7.7% in the UK
Interested to learn more? To chat about embedding Baby Buddy Local in your local area please reach out to the Best Beginnings Impact Team on [email protected].
Contact us for data reports and analysis of Baby Buddy app uptake and usage. Read more
Baby Buddy offers all users a personalised journey from conception to 1st birthday and provides bitesize pieces of daily parenting information. Localise this content for your locality. Read more
We undertake 'embedding and training' work with local authority areas, CCGS, Trusts and other agencies to support the effective use of our resources to support families of young children. Read here about the process of embedding our digital intervention tool, Baby Buddy, into local care pathways. Read more
The process of 'embedding' Baby Buddy resources involves training professional and community champions to support and reach parents of all backgrounds. Read more about the different training workshops we provide. Read more
Our embedding and training program has received great feedback and analysis has shown us that our process of 'embedding' has more impact in the local area. Read some of the feedback we've received here. Read more
Are you interested in our bespoke offers we provide to address strategic health priorities in your local care pathway? Learn more here. Read more
We have evidence that our process of 'embedding' involving training professional and community champions to use our tools successfully reaches parents of all backgrounds and therefore has more impact. See here all the areas that have embedded Baby Buddy app in their business-as-usual practice with parents and soon-to-be parents. Read more