A date for your diaries: 23rd - 28th February 2009.

Last year we experimented by putting a fundraising event "Put the Kettle On" with an awareness campaign "Baby Hip Health Week". It exceeded our expectations by raising over £2000 and bottoming our stock of baby hip health leaflets!

In 2009 we want to make it bigger and better. You do not have to have a child with a hip condition to support Baby Hip Health Week as the hip checks are of concern to all parents as every baby has a hip examination at birth and at 6-8weeks old. However as any visitor to our hip forum could see - too many babies are being diagnosed late, even long after walking at 3, 4 and 5 years old.

We are asking all parents to support this campaign by helping us with some preliminary research. Two of our forum members Penny & Clare are co-ordinating the first part of this campaign. They write:

"During the next few months, we would be grateful for your help in collecting information from local PCT's and hospitals on their current policy for the Newborn Physical Examination. The hip checks are part of this examination, and we would like to see how up to date policies are and measure them against personal experiences."

What you need to do

Identify your Local Primary Care Trust (PCT) by going to:

http://www.nhs.uk/servicedirectories/Pages/PrimaryCareTrustListing.aspx

Identify your local acute Trust (hospital) by going to:

http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/AcuteTrustListing.aspx

Click on the link for the trust and this will give you the name of the Chief Executive and the address of the Trust.

You can use the Freedom of Information act to request this information, and most trusts will have a link to an email form for 'freedom of information requests'. (If you type 'freedom of information' in to the search facility on the Trust web page you should find it). If you can't find the link write to the Chief Executive. You should receive a reply within 20 days. If you don't receive what you request, you may need to write to the Chief Executive.

What you are asking for

You are requesting a copy of your trust or hospital's Management & Treatment Policy covering the Newborn and 6 - 8 week Physical Examination with reference to checking the hips for Developmental Dysplasia of the Hips (DDH)

You can download an example letter from the column on the right, but you will need to fill in your own information.

We will be keeping a list of all the Trusts who have been sent a request, so if you write please let us know. You can post the details directly on the Hip Forum: sticky post : Your help needed for Late Diagnosis Campaign go to http://www.steps-charity.org.uk/siteforum/viewtopic.php?t=7858

What to do when you get a reply

Please send us a copy of the policy. We would also like to record if your experience matched the Trusts policy. Please fill in the feed back questionnaire downloadable on the right.

What we want to do with this information

From our experience of talking to parents we know that how babies hips and checked and treated varies in different parts of the country. What we would like to do is build a snapshot picture of what is actually happening. This will help us to make good campaign material for Baby Hip health Week in 2009.