24th September 2021
22 September saw the launch of the national campaign #TurnOffTheTaps calling for investment into health visiting to rebuild the service in England following years of budget cuts. Alongside this campaign, the iHV will be submitting written evidence for the Spending Review on 30 September – making the case for improving outcomes for babies, children and families through a strengthened health visiting service.
Behind the scenes, the iHV has been working closely with partners, who have come together with one voice, calling for investment into health visiting. We want everyone to know what health visitors do and why their role is so important as an infrastructure of support for babies, young children and families. Alongside our partners, we will be flooding our website and social media with thought pieces, and case studies, written by leading experts, health visitors and parents to make the case for investment to #TurnOffTheTaps .
We all agree that every child deserves the best start in life? How do we actually achieve this when working in a complex system?
We are delighted to publish a voices blog today, written by a leading expert on complex system’s thinking, Toby Lowe, Professor in Public Management at the Centre for Public Impact. Toby challenges us to move on from outdated ‘cause and effect’ service design and to think differently to maximise the chance of creating a positive outcome, whilst also maximising public service efficiency.
Toby describes how health visiting is the infrastructure for achieving positive outcomes. Toby explains how much harder and wasteful it is to try and create positive family outcomes without the people whose job it is to have a strong relationship of trust with each and every family. Toby highlights the importance of trusting relationships and states without them, positive outcomes for families is just ‘wishful thinking’.
“If positive outcomes are wanted, then investment is needed in the infrastructure by which they are made”.
We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Toby for taking the time to write this brilliant blog and championing the health visiting profession.
#TurnOffTheTaps Campaign needs you
Join the campaign and share your stories on how you made a difference to babies, children and family’s lives. You can quote how health visitors are a vital part of the health workforce who provide an infrastructure of support for physical health, mental health and social needs. Let’s make sure all families get the help and support they need, when they need it.
