The Princess of Wales has arrived at Chase Community Hospital in Bordon, Hampshire, to see how a project backed by her charitable arm, the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, is expanding to help more families support babies' social and emotional development.
Kate, wearing a suit and a poppy, is at the hospital on Wednesday to witness the programme in action. During the visit, she will meet health visitors who use an observational tool called the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) to help flag up early social withdrawal in youngsters aged zero to 24 months.
How the ADBB tool works
Healthcare and childcare professionals use the approach to focus on babies' eye contact, facial expressions and activity levels during check-ups. The aim is to help understand their social behaviour and identify withdrawals that may need more support.
Kate first saw the programme in action on a visit to Denmark with the Centre for Early Childhood in February 2022. She later called for the philanthropic unit to look at how it could be introduced in the UK, working with the Institute of Health Visiting.
Expansion across NHS sites
Since then, two pilot phases have been carried out across 10 NHS sites. This summer, the centre announced a further £250,000 cash boost over three years to expand the approach's use, including developing guidance and training resources.
One of the health visiting teams from the Chase Community Hospital was among those at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to be trained as part of the second pilot. The NHS trust has trained up more specialist health visitors in ADBB and plans to roll out the training to its remaining 13 health visiting teams across the county.
Meetings and observations at the hospital
At the hospital, Kate will meet families who have been supported after the extra assessment, join discussions with NHS and healthcare staff, and observe a baby health and development review.
