26th March 2025
The Scottish Government published its Health Visiting Action Plan today.
This action plan aims to create the conditions to allow the enhanced delivery of the health visiting service and the full and consistent delivery of the Universal Health Visiting Pathway as a central offer within the service.
This will be achieved by committing the Scottish Government and its delivery partners to a suite of actions focused around the following four interconnected strategic objectives:
- We have a skilled, confident and knowledgeable health visiting workforce able to fully promote and protect child health and development in line with professional expectations.
- We have sufficient health visiting workforce capacity to identify and appropriately respond to the needs of all pre-school children and their families.
- Health Visitors have a clear role and remit which is coherently integrated into wider children and family support services.
- The health visiting service is appropriately prioritised and promoted by relevant leaders and decision makers in recognition of its role in prevention and early intervention.
Alison Morton, iHV CEO, commented:
“The publication of the Scottish Government’s Action Plan for health visiting provides a powerful message of endorsement for the vital work of health visitors in Scotland. We support this comprehensive Plan which is built on the best evidence to ensure that all families receive the support that they need to thrive during pregnancy and the critical earliest years of life. It also values the health visiting workforce which is crucial to translating this plan into action and build on the successes that we have already seen in health visiting in Scotland in recent years.”
