CHELTENHAM, England, January 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Prince Harry's children's charity, WellChild, today launched the free WellChild Helpline, the only national advice line to connect people to the right information and support about children's health concerns.

Anyone of any age can call 0808-801-0330 to speak to a specialist team of health professionals for trustworthy and confidential advice on any aspect of children's growth, development and health. Through this single reference point, people can also text 0778-147-25-99 or email helpline@wellchild.org.uk to have their concerns answered or referred to the right organisations for more information.

The WellChild Helpline is the newest of many pioneering health services offered by WellChild, which has over thirty years experience of providing nursing care, support and medical research to children and families across the UK.

BBC1's Breakfast programme's GP, Dr. Rosemary Leonard has endorsed the WellChild Helpline.

"WellChild's new service is extremely welcome as accessing the right information can seem daunting and not having access to concerns about health can cause a lot of anxiety," said Rosemary

"By having this multi-disciplinary team of experts at the end of a phone-line or email, WellChild will be putting people in touch with the right health information which could ultimately lead to saved lives as well as an enormous improvement in the quality of many more," continued Rosemary.

Research commissioned by WellChild indicated that most parents do not feel they have sufficient knowledge about their children's health conditions and worry how to access information they trust.

WellChild Helpline Manager Jody Blake confirms the Helpline aims to tackle this problem head-on to ease concerns of parents and families, while also being a resource for carers, students and health professionals.

"Often families and children facing illness do not know where to turn for information and find it very difficult to access the support they need, particularly when struggling to cope with a sick child. We help by directing them to the information they need from a guaranteed credible and trustworthy source," said Jody.

For more information on WellChild or to find out how to make a donation, visit http://www.wellchild.org.uk or call +44(0)845-458-8171.

Notes to Editors:

Interviews with WellChild staff, case studies of families, photographs and full details of WellChild's survey are available.

For further information please contact: Harriet Evans - WellChild Tel: +44-1242-548765/+44-7737-115-173 Email: harrietevans@wellchild.org.uk Isobel McFarlane - WellChild Tel: +44-7803-906-816 Email: isobelmcfarlane@wellchild.org.uk

For further information please contact: Harriet Evans - WellChild, Tel: +44-1242-548765/+44-7737-115-173, Email: harrietevans@wellchild.org.uk. Isobel McFarlane - WellChild, Tel: +44-7803-906-816, Email: isobelmcfarlane@wellchild.org.uk