Supporting families in the early years is everyone’s business — and GPs play a vital role.
The Early Years Toolkit, developed by the NIHR ARC North West London in collaboration with local partners, is a practical resource to help GPs and primary care teams improve outcomes for children aged 0–5 and their families.
Drawing on learning from the Early Years Pilots and Child Health Hubs evaluation, this toolkit supports you to:
- identify children and families who may benefit from early support
- work more effectively with multi-disciplinary teams
- learn from real-life case studies across north west London
- measure the impact of changes in your practice
- drive sustainable, system-wide improvement.
Why it matters
Early intervention can transform a child’s life — but GPs often face challenges in coordinating care across services or knowing where to start.
This toolkit brings together the tools, data insights, and case studies to help you better understand local needs, spot gaps in services, and work with others to strengthen early years care.
What’s inside
The toolkit is structured around six key areas from the system-wide evaluation:
- Population health management – Use dashboards and data to identify children at risk
- Community connectors – Understand how to work with link workers, social prescribers, and community champions
- Innovation and co-production – See how small grants and local ideas led to big impact
- Integrated neighbourhood teams (INTs) – Learn how pilot sites improved inter-professional collaboration
- Clinical case studies – Practical examples of early intervention in GP settings
- Specialist clinics – Including perinatal mental health, preschool respiratory health, and developmental reviews
How to use it
- explore the toolkit to find ideas and approaches you can apply in your own practice
- share it with your team to build a shared understanding of how to support children and families
- use the insights and examples to strengthen partnerships with health visitors, social care, community providers, and local authorities
- refer to the evaluation to see the evidence behind what works and why
Access the toolkit: Early Years Toolkit – ARC NWL
Together, we can ensure every child gets the best start in life.
Updated: July 2025