The Institute of Health Visiting is an independent charity, professional body, and Centre of Excellence – established to strengthen the quality and consistency of health visiting practice, so that health visitors can effectively respond to the health needs of all babies, children, families and communities enabling them to achieve their optimum level of health, thereby reducing inequalities.

The iHV receives no funding or grants from the NHS or the government to cover our core business. Our events provide an important opportunity to showcase the ‘very best’ of health visiting practice – through our ticket sales, exhibitor and sponsor fees they also bring in a small amount of additional income to the iHV. This income enables us to continue with our charitable objectives, including our our unfunded work (e.g. policy and HV education) which are so important in advocating for professional standards and raising the profile of health visiting.

The cost of running a virtual conference is similar to a physical event. Although a virtual conference has fewer room hire and catering costs, a lot of work is still needed to produce a high-quality event. The income that is generated from our ticket sales alone does not cover our costs which include speaker and delegate support and the costs for the technical supplier, and the virtual conference platform design, development, and support. We also have a team of dedicated events professionals, content experts, digital, marketing and finance support that work on these events.

The iHV is an independent charity working to improve health outcomes for babies, children, and families through a strengthened health visiting service. In this context, the iHV seeks to work with a range of organisations to support all aspects of its work and, where appropriate, to generate income to deliver its charitable objectives.

Income generation: is essential to supplement the money we raise from our own assets and to allow us to continue with our range of activities, including our unfunded policy work to raise the profile of health visiting. Sponsorship of iHV events also enables us to subsidise our ticket prices to make them as affordable as possible.

Shared goals: The iHV will seek partners whose goals, values and actions align with its own to promote and/or enable good health. Specifically, it will not be associated with any organisations whose activities are harmful to health – for example, partnerships with organisations linked to tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and breastmilk substitutes are prohibited (for full exclusions see iHV ethical principles section below). Each partner will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

Transparency about our partnerships: The iHV aims to be transparent in its relationships with other organisations. Collaborations may include sponsorship agreements, joint ventures, commissions, consultancy, partnership working, and exhibitor stands at iHV events. All income-generating activities are conducted in direct pursuit of the iHV’s mission statement and values – applications are rigorously screened to ensure they align with our business plan and objectives, and do not pose any conflict of interest. The iHV is very careful when working with other organisations that its independent status is not compromised in any way. If there is a possibility that this may be placed in jeopardy, we will withdraw from any such initiative.

We wish to develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with commercial and other health-related organisations without compromising the independence of the iHV. The iHV’s collaborations are intended to generate shared learning, as well as income. It is important that both parties respect the expertise and skills that the other brings – over and above any financial benefits. Our model aligns with other leading independent charities and nursing organisations.

The purpose of iHV conferences is to exchange learning by bringing researchers and practitioners involved in evidence-based practice developments together. One way or another, having such a gathering costs money. For our Evidence-based Practice Conference, the simplest and possibly fairest way is to have all participants chip in to cover the expenses which include: managing abstract submissions and peer review, the promotion of the event and delegate support, as well as all the costs on the day (venue, catering, tech support, communications, evaluation etc…).

It is standard practice across leading charity and nursing organisations that abstract presenters pay a delegate fee to cover their costs of attendance. We recognise that there is a cost to the presenter, and to offset this, the iHV has subsidised its ticket prices to keep them as low as possible. The income that we bring in from ticket sales does not cover our costs, but we have chosen this approach to enable as many researchers and practitioners to have the opportunity to disseminate their work and raise their profile on a national platform.

We offer discounted tickets against full price tickets if booked through the same order. Our most popular offer is buying 5 tickets for the price of 4.

Please email us at [email protected] to take advantage of this offer.

All iHV members can purchase discounted tickets. We also offer early bird rates for limited periods of time and further discounts for students and retired members.

Please check the booking information for each event for details.

Cancellations confirmed in writing more than 14 days before the first live session will be refunded in full via the same payment method. We regret that no refund can be made after that date. However, if you have booked an online ticket and contact us the day before the event or earlier, we can offer a transfer of your ticket to another online event taking place in the next 12 months. Please email us at [email protected] with confirmation of your original booking to cancel or transfer your ticket. On completion of the confirmed booking the delegate and their supporting organisation are liable for the fees for the event (regardless of whether payment has been made).

We constantly strive to improve the accessibility of our events and welcome feedback at [email protected]

If you have accessibility requirements you would like to discuss, please email us at [email protected]. We will also ask you for this information during the registration process.

The iHV ethical principles:

• The iHV will only work with organisations that we have reason to believe work to high ethical standards
• The iHV will only work or be affiliated with organisations and companies that comply with the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and the UK UNICEF Baby Friendly initiative.
• iHV commercial partnerships with the following organisations are prohibited:
  • Tobacco companies/ products
  • Infant Formula milk/ breast milk substitute companies (this includes all affiliated organisations, for example Nestle is part of a multi-national food and drink conglomerate that includes companies such as Perrier and Vittel water).
  • Fast food, or unhealthy food and drink companies (e.g. foods with high sugar content)
  • Alcohol companies
  • Companies that produce products that promote unsafe sleep practices or pose a child safety risk
  • faith, religion and equivalent systems of belief
  • adult products and services
  • weapons and gun clubs
  • political or lobby groups
  • any categories that relate to a controversial health issue, or product with unfounded health benefit claims.
• The iHV will not share any personal data with any third-party organisations or individuals without explicit consent. Personal information collected by the iHV will not be sold, given away or shared with anyone else, unless we’re required to do so by law.
• The iHV will not discriminate in terms of gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, age, and disability.
• The iHV recognises its responsibility to safeguard and protect the welfare of all children, young people, and vulnerable adults, by a commitment to practice which protects them.
• The iHV will uphold the highest standards of integrity and will listen to and respect the opinions of others.
• The iHV will be objective in its actions, and honest and transparent in its activities and when working with partners.
• The iHV will operate within the law.
• The iHV is taking action to cut carbon emissions and improve sustainability while building capacity and resilience through all aspects of our work – we will look to partner with organisations that have clear sustainability/ Green plans.