Employing community Parent Champions is associated with reduced hospitalisation rates for bronchiolitis

<bold>Background:</bold> Liverpool experiences high bronchiolitis admission rates and high rates of poverty. In January 2022, 8 Parent Champions (PCs) were employed by Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Liverpool Children’s Centre to address socioeconomic (SE) risk factors and deliver education on bronchiolitis to parents in wards (electoral districts) with high levels of poverty. <bold>Aim:</bold> To compare rates of hospital admissions for bronchiolitis-type illness for 0–2-year-olds in wards where PCs were employed and wards without PCs in Cheshire & Mersey (C&M). <bold>Methods:</bold> Population cohorts of 0–2-year-olds for years 2018-2023 were created using pseudonymised linked data in the Combined Intelligence for Population Health Action (CIPHA) secure data environment. Hospital episodes were linked at patient level. Patients were then grouped by ward. <bold>Results:</bold> Prior to intervention, admission rates followed a similar pattern in intervention and non-intervention wards, with no statistically significant difference in mean rates. Post intervention there is a statistically significant lower rate of admissions in intervention wards compared to the rest of C&M (P <0.01). <fig><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/PA4075/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig> <bold>Discussion:</bold> Despite SE inequalities in bronchiolitis admissions and worsening deprivation following the COVID 19 Pandemic, admission rates in deprived areas which received the PC intervention have reduced in comparison to an increase across non-intervention wards in C&M.