Health Visitors are Registered Nurses or Midwives who have had extra training in supporting families and children's health in the community.
Health Visitors are qualified Specialist Community Public Health Nurses.
Health Visitors work with families that have children aged from 0-5.
Their goal is to keep children healthy, support parents and reduce health problems by offering advice and services to everyone, while providing extra help and support to those that need it most.
Your Health Visitor will visit you when your new baby is between 10-14 days old.
Health visitors work with parents who have new babies, offering support and informed advice from the ante-natal period until the child starts school at 5 years.
We give advice on child health, growth and development, help families find the right services for their needs, organise and run clinics and groups.
We link with other professionals, agencies and voluntary services to help families find the right support at the right time.
We focus on helping children and families stay healthy and aim to reduce health inequalities.
We work in teams and have sole responsibility for a caseload derived from the local area or a general practice list, surgeries, community settings or health centres.
Health visitors will come to your home, but may also invite you to join groups, come to clinics and networks run by the health visiting team and colleagues who work with them such as:
Families come from all walks of life so the support that you receive will be tailored to your needs and what works best for you as a family.
Health visitors follow the Healthy Child Wales programme.
There is an Antenatal Visit during the third trimester of pregnancy your Health Visitor may offer you an antenatal contact.
Parents who are usually contacted during this time by the Health Visitor are:
During this visit parental expectations and preparation for parenthood will be discussed.
This visit will be when your baby is between 10 and 14 days old.
Further contacts will be offered before the baby is 6 weeks old if needed.
The Health Visitor will take the opportunity to build a relationship with you with you and your family and support with all aspects of baby, child and family health.
This will include topics such as;
In addition to this, Safe Sleep will be discussed, which will include the Health Visitor offering an observation of where your baby sleeps at night to ensure that you are fully supported in relation to the latest evidence-based Safer Sleep advice.
Your Health Visitor will support with secure attachment and bonding between the parents/carers and their baby.
The Health Visitor will talk to you about the immunisations your baby is entitled to, when and where you can attend and encourage you to keep the appointments sent as these will be the optimum time for your baby to receive the primary immunisations and the health protection that these can offer.
These will be when your baby is 8, 12 and 16 weeks old.
The Health Visitor will review the baby's growth and developmental progress.
Key public health messages may be reinforced as appropriate at these contacts.
For example, infant feeding, dental health, vitamins, healthy nutrition and promoting baby development.
A contact will be offered by the Health Visiting team around 6 months old.
This could be at home or in clinic.
This contact will provide support and advice on various key areas, including:
A contact will be offered by the Health Visiting Team at around 15 months old.
This could be at home or in clinic.
This is another opportunity for the Health Visitor to support the family and assess your child's health and development.
To discuss any concerns or support needed in order to assist families to help your child reach their full potential.
This contact will have specific focus on general development.
The same Public Health priorities will be reviewed and discussed.
A contact will be offered by the Health Visiting Team at around 27 months old.
This could be at home or in clinic.
The purpose of this contact is for the Health Visitor to assess the growth and developmental progress of your child.
Public health priorities will be reviewed and discussed.
In addition to this school readiness will be discussed and promoted.
A contact will be offered by the Health Visiting team around 3.5 years old.
This could be at home or in clinic.
Public Health priorities will be discussed in preparation to hand over to the School Nursing Service at 5 years old.
Thank you for listening.
Please get in touch with your local Health Visitor Team if you have any questions.