23rd February 2026
We are delighted to share this iHV Voices Blog by Sarah Tingle, Senior Nurse, Quality Assurance, Children’s Public Health, Hywel Dda University Health Board, Wales, and Chair of All Wales Health Visiting Week 2026. Sarah shares information on an exciting week of celebrating health visiting in Wales, as well as personal reflections on why this week matters more than ever.
Health Visiting Week 2026 takes place from Monday 2 March to Friday 6 March, celebrating the essential contribution of health visitors across Wales and highlighting the difference they make to babies, children and families. The week will begin with a national launch webinar on Monday 2 March (10:00–12:00), which will bring together partners from across Wales. A key highlight will be a presentation from the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, who will share priorities from her recently published Manifesto for Children and Young People. These national priorities align strongly with the preventative, relational work of health visiting and provide an important context for this year’s celebrations. The webinar will also include a presentation from Children in Wales on the Baby Pledge, a message of support from the Chief Nursing Officer for Wales, and a powerful live reflection from parents with lived experience of support from the Health Visiting Service. We are also delighted to be joined by Alison Morton, CEO, Institute of Health Visiting, who will be sharing a powerful message on the importance of health visiting, as a preventative, long-term approach to improving population health in Wales.
Throughout the week, digital content will be shared across Welsh Government, Health Boards and Local Authorities:
- Monday will focus on the national launch, including the CNO message
- Tuesday will highlight recruitment with workforce and student videos and an all Wales Lunch and Learn hosted in partnership with Wrexham University, Swansea University and the University of South Wales
- Wednesday will see the release of the Health Visiting – Making a Difference video
- Thursday will share family stories and reflections
- Friday will feature a highlights reel bringing together key moments from across Wales.
For any professionals wishing to join the launch webinar, the link is here Health Visiting Week Launch Event – Webinar | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
Sarah Tingle, Senior Nurse, Quality Assurance, Children’s Public Health, Hywel Dda University Health Board, Wales, and Chair of All Wales Health Visiting Week 2026
As Chair of this year’s All Wales Health Visiting Week, I have had the privilege of working closely with colleagues across Wales to bring this week together. As we reach 2026, I find myself reflecting not only on the profession itself, but on the people who make it what it is, the health visitors who step into homes, offer reassurance, safeguard children, and quietly change the trajectory of families’ lives.
This year’s theme, “Health Visiting: Making a Difference,” captures something I witness every day. Across Wales, families are facing increasing pressures, financial strain, mental health challenges, loneliness, and the slow fading of those informal support networks that once held communities together. In the middle of all of that complexity, a health visitor still arrives with the same approach: to listen, to notice, and to support without judgement.
One parent said to us recently:
“Our health visitor saw what we were struggling with before we even knew how to explain it.”
It’s comments like this that remind me why health visiting is so essential. The profession has evolved enormously, our knowledge base is broader, our safeguarding responsibilities greater, and the needs of families more complex, but at its core, health visiting remains a relational profession. One that values connection, trust, and understanding.
I often describe health visitors as the “quiet constants” in the early years:
- They are there when the baby arrives home.
- They are there when parents feel unsure.
- They are there when something worries them, but they don’t know the words for it yet.
- And they are there to celebrate the moments of joy too.
A health visitor recently shared with me:
“Health visiting is about listening without judgement and working with families at their level. That’s where real change happens.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Health visitors see the whole child, not just their weight, development, or milestones but who they are, what they need, and the environment shaping their start in life. They also see parents: their exhaustion, their hopes, their fears, and their strengths.
This holistic view is something I feel deeply proud of as a leader in the service.
A National Moment for Babies and Families
This year’s programme reflects a shared commitment across Wales to place babies and young children at the centre of our thinking. The Children’s Commissioner for Wales continues to champion children’s rights and wellbeing, and the Baby Pledge reinforces a national ambition that every baby deserves the best possible start.
Health visitors live that ambition every day.
Parents frequently tell me how much the service means to them. One parent recently said:
“With our first child, we had very little contact. This time, the support has been phenomenal. It’s made such a difference.”
Comments like this remind us that despite the pressures, staffing, demand, complexity the impact of health visiting remains clear and powerful.
Looking Across the Workforce
This year, I’ve had conversations with students who have told me that seeing health visitors work in practice has inspired them to join the profession.
“When students see the impact of health visiting, they want to be part of it.”
In a time when recruitment is challenging, this feels significant. It tells me that what health visitors do still captures hearts and minds. It still matters.
Looking Ahead with Honesty and Hope
As we celebrate Health Visiting Week 2026, I feel incredibly proud, proud of our workforce, proud of the quality of care we continue to deliver, and proud of the resilience and compassion I see in every corner of Wales.
But I also feel a responsibility.
If health visiting is to continue making a difference, the service must be valued, resourced, and recognised for the life changing, preventative work it delivers.
A health visitor summed it up powerfully:
“Health visiting is preventative work that changes lives, but only if it’s properly supported.”
As Chair, my hope for this week is simple: that we celebrate the difference we make every day, that we raise the profile of our profession, and that we continue to speak with one clear voice about the importance of giving every baby in Wales the strongest possible start.
Health visiting continues to evolve, but purpose remains the same, to support children, strengthen families and shape heathier futures. I could not be prouder to stand alongside this profession as we mark Health Visiting Week 2026.
