Health Visiting:
Health visitors are qualified nurses who have undertaken further training in all areas of child health and development and are skilled practitioners in public health.
he overall purpose is to achieve the best health and well being for children from birth to 5 years of age, by identifying health needs and promoting healthy lifestyles. This includes delivery of health and development reviews, health promotion and parenting guidance tailored to individual risks and protective factors.
Health visitors offer support and advice to families on a variety of topics which include promotion and management of breastfeeding, supporting new mothers with post-natal depression, parenting programmes and putting parents in touch with a variety of specialist services that can support them and their child's healthy development. New parents are also offered a newborn hearing test.
The service is delivered in a variety of ways, through home visits, telephone advice, child health clinics and the wider community.
The core business hours for accessing the health visiting service are Monday to Friday 9am to 5 pm.
The following links offer further useful information for parents and carers.