CATCH app catches on for Jade

As winter starts to bite, Crewe mum Jade Young has recommended an award-winning health app to parents of infants who are under the weather.

The free CATCH app offers NHS-assured advice to expectant mothers plus parents and carers of children aged 0 to 5.

The app was recommended to 33-year-old Jade by a nurse at her GP practice. She has used its search facility to get top tips on teething and weaning plus information on treating colds, flu and scarlet fever.

CATCH is available as an interactive app to users in Cheshire and St Helens although plans are being considered to roll it out across a wider area. Anyone can download the app but its complete functionality, including maps of services such as dentists and community pharmacies, is only available in Cheshire and St Helens for now.

Jade said: “CATCH has given me great confidence in knowing when it’s fine to care for 18-month-old Isaac at home and when I should seek medical advice. Although it’s aimed specifically at parents of pre-school children, I’ve found it useful for advice on looking after nine-year-old Ernie too.

“I’ve been super impressed by the app and have started recommending it to my friends, including one who’s expecting.”

CATCH was developed for the NHS in Cheshire by Liverpool health technology studio Damibu after a report by the public health team at Cheshire East Council found an unusually high number of pre-school children were being sent home from the A&E departments in Crewe and Macclesfield with information and advice only. This suggested that many of the visits to hospital were avoidable.

For more information on the app, email Kate Tattersall, senior project manager with the Strong Start Team at NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.

About NHS Cheshire and Merseyside

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside was established on Friday 1 July 2022 and replaces the region’s nine local NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) – including Cheshire East, Cheshire West, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, Warrington, and Wirral.

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside now holds responsibility for planning local NHS services, including those previously provided by CCGs – including primary care, community and hospital services.

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside is one of the largest of 42 Integrated Care Systems in England, formed under recent NHS reforms brought about by the 2022 Health and Care Act.

The organisation aims to bring health and social care organisations closer together to improve services for the 2.7 million residents it serves.

Please visit our website for more information.