Policy, legislation and guidance – Scotland

This iHV infographic reflects Scotland’s child health policy and includes ‘Getting it right for every child’ (GIRFEC), which is the overarching policy framework for children’s services in Scotland. The NHS Scotland logo was also added, alongside a few other minor changes to align with the relationship-based context of the Universal Health Visiting Pathway (UVHP).

The infographic was discussed at the Scottish health visitor leads network and, thereafter, representatives met with the iHV to make some adaptions to align with the Scottish context to enable Scottish HVs to articulate the complexity of their role to families and professionals.

This updated Framework (updated March 2024) replaces the previous version, published in 2012 to support the design and delivery of child protection learning and development. It provides a resource for all learning and development relevant to child protection, regardless of which agency practitioners work in and can be used flexibly and alongside single agency frameworks for learning to emphasise the key themes of the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 – updated 2023 .

Urgent action is needed to tackle worsening health in children under 5 in the UK, the Academy of Medical Sciences warned last month. Poor rates of infant survival, increasing demand for mental health services, rising rates of obesity and tooth decay, and falling vaccination rates were all listed as areas to address.

News article: In England, “urgent action is needed” to tackle worsening health in children under five years of age, after researchers found “clear differences” in immunisation, breastfeeding and A&E visits between Scottish and English children.

The Scottish Government’s Infant Best Practice Guidelines which includes a national ‘Infant pledge’.

The Universal Health Visiting Pathway was introduced in Scotland in 2015 to refocus the approach to health visiting. This is the first report of 4 that provides findings of the National Evaluation of Health Visiting. It focuses on primary research with health visitors and parents and case note review.

The aims of this document are to provide a consistent approach to Health Visiting roles and services across Scotland and to provide guidance to practising Health Visitors. It is intended to be a supportive tool to underpin Health Visitors proactive interactions with families. While clearly specifying expectations of the Health Visitor role and services, the pathway defines and enhances Health Visitors responsive way of working with parents and their children.

A framework for promoting, supporting, and safeguarding the wellbeing of children and young people.

Sets out targets to reduce the number of children experiencing the effects of poverty by 2030.

Policy to promote and support good child and maternal health, so that all children in Scotland can have the best start in life.

A commitment to providing high quality, flexible early learning and childcare that is accessible and affordable for all families.

Indicators for child health and policy recommendations.

Provides a database of evidence-based prevention and early intervention approaches designed to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.