A Parent’s letter to the Chancellor: ‘Invest in vital health visitors who saved my life’

We are delighted to support a parent’s call to action, campaigning for investment in ‘vital’ health visitors. Leanne, a mother of two, has urged Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to make sure every family has access to health visitors after they saved her life when she struggled with mental health problems.

Leanne Howlett

Following her experience, Leanne founded a local charity, ‘By Your Side’ – to support parents who are experiencing mental health difficulties during pregnancy or after the birth of their baby.

Yesterday, Leanne sent a letter to Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with the support of 125 parents asking for commitment to ensure that new and prospective parents, no matter where they live, have access to a high quality health visiting service, when and where they need it.

Leanne’s story has featured in the Daily Express Newspaper today and you can read it here

Leanne says:

“To have to reach out and say you are struggling is the hardest call you will ever make and, for many, it can feel impossible. For this reason, so many parents end up struggling at home alone, behind closed doors, afraid to speak up. I was very lucky that healthcare professionals spotted the signs, and I don’t doubt for a second that this saved my life”.

Read Leanne's letter to Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid

We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Leanne and all the parents who are supporting this campaign. The spending review is a crucial moment for the Chancellor to invest in rebuilding the health visiting workforce.

Would you, as a parent, like to add your name?

If any parents would like to add their name to Leanne’s letter, please click on the link below. Please share the link with the families that you support.

Click here to add your name to Leanne's letter

Calling all health visitors:

We invite you to find your inner warrior and share your stories on social media. How have you made a difference to babies, children and families? Support the #TurnOffTheTaps campaign and raise the profile of health visiting so every baby can get the best start in life. Together we are stronger. #InvestInHealthVisiting

Find out more about the #TurnOffTheTaps campaign

#TurnOffTheTaps – Health Visitors: No more goodbyes

We are delighted to publish a Voices blog today, written by Dr Peter Green, Chair of The National Network of Designated Healthcare Professionals for Safeguarding,

Peter emphasises the important safeguarding functions of health visiting services, stating that the child and family support system has already suffered enough from post-crash austerity. Peter explains how the needs of babies and children have been forgotten about in the pandemic, which has only made matters worse. Peter highlights how the current campaign to fight cuts to health visitor services is key to reversing a decline in child safeguarding effectiveness.

Peter champions the health visiting profession stating that health visitors are vital to child and family wellbeing because they form core relationships with families without which our most vulnerable babies and children remain invisible to services. He states that health visiting is an area which should be expanded upon and that babies and children’s needs should now be prioritised in the manner that adults were in the pandemic.

Find out more and read Peter's blog

We would like to say a heart felt thank you to Peter for taking the time to write this brilliant blog and for championing the health visiting profession.

#TurnOffTheTaps campaign needs you

Please join the campaign and share your stories on social media on how you made a difference to babies and children’s lives. Lets make sure all families get the help and support they need, when they need it.

Find out more about the #TurnOffTheTaps campaign

#TurnOffTheTaps – Reduce the burden on the NHS

We are delighted to share a case study written by Helen, who is a health visitor working in the East of England. Helen’s case study demonstrates the breadth of the health visiting role and through using her specialist public health nursing skills, was able to identify several problems which were impacting on the whole family’s health and wellbeing.

What started out to be a mother’s request for sleep support for her 10-week-old baby was actually a cry for help as the mother was suffering with perinatal illness, alongside having relationship difficulties with her partner. Helen built a trusting relationship with both parents and identified what the problems were, to ensure the whole family were supported.

Many positive outcomes were achieved for the family:

There was an improvement in perinatal mental health symptoms
The parents’ relationship improved
The infant and parent relationship strengthened
The mother ceased seeking additional support from her GP and private consultants

Helen received the following feedback from the mother:

‘I just wanted to say a big thank you for your support for the past year. It feels like a huge milestone reaching 12 months. I really appreciate your steady and non-judgemental support, and we wouldn’t have made it here without you. Thank you.’

Helen was able to #TurnOffTheTaps and reduce the burden on the NHS

Read Health Visitor and Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Case Study

Calling all health visitors:

We invite you to find your inner warrior and share your stories on social media. How have you made a difference to babies, children and families? Support the #TurnOffTheTaps campaign and raise the profile of health visiting so every baby can get the best start in life. Together we are stronger. #InvestInHealthVisiting

Find out more about the #TurnOffTheTaps campaign

#TurnOffTheTaps – Dying for Investment

Today, as part of our ongoing #TurnOffTheTaps campaign calling on the Government for investment into health visiting, we are delighted to publish a blog by Alison Leary, Professor and Chair of Healthcare & Workforce Modelling at London Southbank University.

Alison is the leading national expert in healthcare workforce modelling. Her blog makes the case for health visiting as a ‘safety critical’ workforce and sets out clear rationale to challenge current misguided thinking that health visitors can be replaced by unregulated practitioners who are not part of the health workforce.

Alison also clearly sets out the added value of having an infrastructure of support for families planned and delivered by highly skilled Specialist Community Public Health Nurses. Alison’s blog provides a stark reminder to policy makers of the current catastrophic harm caused to babies and young children through poorly thought out policy decisions driven by short-sighted efforts to save money in the short term.

Read Alison Leary's blog “Dying for investment: health visiting, a safety critical workforce”

Calling all health visitors: We invite you to find your inner warrior and share your stories on social media. How have you made a difference to babies, children and families? Support the #TurnOffTheTaps campaign and raise the profile of health visiting so every baby can get the best start in life. Together we are stronger. #InvestInHealthVisiting

Find out more about the #TurnOffTheTaps campaign

Find your inner warrior and join this campaign. Together we are stronger!

Wow, what an amazing couple of days at the #iHVEBP2021 conference, “Looking ahead to a fairer future” held on 21^st & 22^nd September!

Over the last two days almost 400 delegates from across the UK joined together to reflect, recharge and look ahead to a fairer future at the 6^th iHV Evidence Based Practice Conference which was held virtually.

The virtual world quickly became filled with a shared passion and energy to make a difference and improve outcomes for babies, young children and families. We heard from local, national, and international expert speakers, including parents, who shared best practice examples, brought constructive challenge and shared innovative solutions. We were also the first to hear some of the latest research into health visiting that is driving change in policy and practice. The conference was themed around reducing inequalities and sharing learning from the pandemic. We also took some time to reflect and think about how we can look ahead to the future with a shared ambition to build a fairer society.

Despite health visitors’ best efforts to reach as many families as possible, the conference also highlighted the challenges that the health visiting profession in England faces, following years of cuts and a postcode lottery of support. Our mission at the iHV is to drive positive change using the data – and from the data it is clear that health visitors in many areas are struggling with unmanageable caseloads, increasing complexity and need, and health visiting numbers at an all-time low. The iHV is working in collaboration with the Parent-Infant Foundation and the First 1001 Days Movement to set out a case for investment to deliver the Start for Life vision, including money for health visiting in the Spending Review.

Sally Hogg (Head of Policy and campaigning for the Parent-Infant Foundation and Co-ordinator and Chair of the First 1001 Days Movement) ended our conference with a call to find the inner warrior in all of us! Sally launched the #InvestInHealthVisiting #TurnOfftheTaps campaign which is calling for the Government to invest in health visiting.

Sally Hogg said:

“We are investing billions in overstretched health and social care services, which are flooded with growing need. It’s time for a different approach. It’s time to turn off the taps and stop mopping the floor and think about how health visitors can save the NHS.”

We have compiled some highlights from Sally’s speech, so if you missed it you can catch up and find your inner warrior and join us with this campaign. Together we are stronger!

Alison Morton, Executive Director iHV, commented:

“I am delighted that so many organisations and individuals have joined alongside the iHV, as part of the First 1001 Days Movement, calling for investment to deliver the Government’s Start for Life Vision and increase the number of health visitors. We hear daily how the NHS is flooded with growing need – now is the time to #TurnOffTheTaps . The evidence is clear that investing in the earliest years of a child’s life is the smartest of all investments – we don’t need any more evidence for this. It is time to stop admiring the problem and invest in the infrastructure of support that will actually make the difference. We urge all health visitors to join this campaign and speak out about the vital work that they are doing. We would also like to thank all of our partners for their unwavering support.”

Find out more about the #TurnOffTheTaps campaign

#TurnOffTheTaps campaign to Invest in Health Visiting

Today, as announced by Sally Hogg during her presentation at the iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference 2021 (#iHVEBP2021), iHV together with the First 1001 Days Movement is launching our #TurnOffTheTaps campaign calling for investment in Health Visiting services.

The focus of Government policy and spending is too often on dealing with a backlog of unmet needs, rather than reducing this need through improving the health, happiness and resilience of our citizens. We are investing billions in overstretched health and social care services, which are flooded with growing needs. It’s time for a different approach. It’s time to turn off the taps. It’s time to invest in health promotion and prevention in the earliest years of life.

The Chancellor has said that the Spending Review, announced this autumn will ensure “strong and innovative public services” and level up across the UK to “increase and spread opportunity.”

Investing in services that give children the best start in life reduces demands on GPs, hospitals and social care. It means children start school ready to learn and to achieve, so our schools can be more effective. Investing at the start of life gives our children the best chance of being safe, happy and healthy throughout their lifetime and into old age.

Science shows us that action in early life can prevent problems that can be costly to individuals and society. Economics shows that investment at the start of life generates the greatest returns.

We are calling for investment to deliver the Government’s Start for Life Vision. This includes a £500 million ringfenced uplift in the Public Health Grant over the next three years. This will enable local authorities to create strong and innovative Health Visiting services able to play their role in increasing opportunity for our citizens and reducing long-term burdens on the NHS.

Alison Morton, Executive Director iHV, commented:

“I am delighted that so many organisations and individuals have joined alongside the iHV, as part of the First 1001 Days Movement, calling for investment to deliver the Government’s Start for Life Vision and increase the number of health visitors.

“We hear daily how the NHS is flooded with growing need – now is the time to #TurnOffTheTaps.

“The evidence is clear that investing in the earliest years of a child’s life is the smartest of all investments – we don’t need any more evidence for this. It is time to stop admiring the problem and invest in the infrastructure of support that will actually make the difference.

“We urge all health visitors to join this campaign and speak out about the vital work that they are doing. We would also like to thank all of our partners for their unwavering support.”

What is the #TurnOffThe taps campaign?

It is clear that reducing short term burdens on the NHS is a priority for the Government. Therefore our campaign focuses on how investment in health visiting can reduce demand for NHS services.

Our Health Visiting Ask

We are calling for investment to deliver the Government’s Start for Life Vision, including improvements in parent and infant mental health services, breastfeeding, maternity and health visiting services.
This includes a £500 million ringfenced uplift in the Public Health Grant over the next three years which would enable growth in health visitor numbers and strengthening the leadership in health visiting services.
We are calling on Government to invest enough to reach a total of 5000 new health visitors over the next 5 years, with 3000 in this spending review period.
In addition to the extra health visitors, the £500 million includes funding to increase the leadership capacity in health visiting service. This additional capacity would enable service leaders to drive excellence in practice through workforce development, research, service innovation and strong integration with other services.

How can you get involved?

The most important thing you can do is to tell your story. Get on social media and/or contact your MP and share YOUR stories about how health visitors give children the best start in life and can help to reduce demands on the NHS.

To support this campaign, you can:

Share the calls to action on social media – please see hashtag #TurnOffTheTaps
- Please share content about the campaign from Wednesday 22 Sept onwards and increase activity around the 30 Sept, but please share your own stories too!
Send a letter to your MP
- Tailor the letter template and send it to your local MP. Tailor the letter to your local context. Perhaps explain what you do and invite the MP to visit your service; give a case study to show the work of local health visitors and/or talk about local cuts to services.
- Please include the campaign briefing with the letter when you send it.
- To find your local MP’s details go to https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

What the First 1001 Days Movement is doing

In addition to the materials to support you as above, the First 1001 Days Movement will:

Submit a formal representation to Treasury.
Write to Maggie Throup the new Public Health Minister
Try to secure press coverage for the campaign

What iHV is doing

Further to above, the iHV will also be submitting our response to the Spending Review on the 30 September with a consistent ‘ask’ of the Government to invest £500m in health visiting from across the sector.

#MakeAllCareCount Campaign

The iHV is delighted to see the #MakeAllCareCount Campaign launched today by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA).

Melita Walker, Mental Health Lead at iHV, said:

“As long-standing active members of the Alliance it has been brilliant to work alongside the fantastic MMHA team and wider Alliance members to help shape the call for a truly integrated system of perinatal mental health care. Family mental health is complex, mental health needs are an enormous public health challenge. The Pandemic has increased the mental health risks for new parents and the already-stretched services supporting their mental health during the perinatal period, so the new focus of the MMHA campaign is needed now, more than ever”.

The #MakeAllCareCount Campaign is calling for:

All women and families across the UK to have equitable access to comprehensive, high-quality perinatal mental health (PMH) care, including and beyond specialist PMH services.

This includes:

A confident, well-equipped workforce delivering excellent, safe PMH care and support.
Care for all women, including those impacted by inequalities
Specialist PMH that meet national standards and act as a catalyst for change within the wider system of care.

Find out more about the #MakeAllCareCount Campaign

The new phase of the MMHA’s work to drive change for women and families affected by PMH problems looks at the wider system, including and beyond specialist services, and how to support maternal mental health at every opportunity.

Whilst everyone who comes into contact with women before, during or after pregnancy has the opportunity to provide mental health support, ‘Make all care count’ highlights and defines the essential services that can dramatically affect the lives of women with, or at risk of, poor maternal mental health. Each essential service in each of the sections of the interlocking wheel above can be explored.

Defining essential perinatal mental health care: health visiting

The campaign recognises the critical role that health visitors have as part of an integrated system of care in achieving good family mental health and wellbeing.

What is the role of health visiting in providing essential perinatal mental health care?

“The campaign is a great opportunity for health visitors (and our partners) to make it clear and be recognised for what we can achieve – if we are in the right numbers with the right competence and capacity.

By making certain that all care is women and family-centred, that there is a competent and confident workforce, by working together and by recognising, liberating and strengthening the unique contribution of each individual/service -we are much more able to ensure that all families across the UK have equitable access to comprehensive, high quality PMH care.”

Do join the call for ALL women and families across the UK to have equitable access to essential, high-quality perinatal mental health care and do tag us in @iHealthVisiting @MMHAlliance #MakeAllCareCount #EveryonesBusiness

iHV proud to support #SafeTea campaign

iHV is proud to support the #SafeTea campaign launching today (16 October), on National Burns Awareness Day, and as one of the foundation SafeTea ambassadors. SafeTea is a national campaign which aims to reduce hot drink burns to young children, and improve first aid to children who have been burned.

Parents are being urged to take care with hot drinks in a UK-wide campaign to tackle the most common cause of burns to young children.

Burns and scalds are common injuries to children, and each year more than 50,000 children attend hospital with burns. The peak age for burns is in infants and toddlers between 8 and 18 months of age , where the most common cause is a burn from a hot drink. This means that across the UK 30 babies and toddlers are taken to hospital every day for treatment of a hot drink burn.

These injuries are preventable!

We encourage all health visitors to view and download the resources that are available on the SafeTea website and share the link with colleagues and friends.

Resource packs of printed material can also be ordered on the website for health visitors who are going to promote the SafeTea messages with families and with parent groups.

Request a pack of materials (flyers, fridge magnets, reach chart, badges) to use to promote the SafeTea messages with families.

Wear the ‘I am supporting SafeTea’ lapel badge.

If you work with parent groups, consider running some SafeTea activity sessions; activity resources are available to download from www.SafeTea.org.uk.

The key messages of the campaign are:

Prevention:

Keep hot drinks away from young children
Don’t pass a hot drink over a child
Never hold a baby and a hot drink at the same time
Make a SafeTea zone: a safe place for hot drinks in your home, out of reach of small children

Download - How to get involved

Organisations and groups are invited to become SafeTea Ambassadors.

The role of ambassadors is to:

disseminate information about the SafeTea campaign
promote the campaign messages
encourage individuals to get involved by using the materials and becoming supporters

The SafeTea Pledge

Preventing hot drink burns from happening is simple: always keep hot drinks well away from small children. Take a moment to think about where it’s safe to drink a hot drink in your home.

Take the SafeTea pledge:

I will always keep hot drinks out of children’s reach
I will never pass a hot drink over a child
I will never hold my child whilst holding a hot drink
I will make a SafeTea zone for hot drinks at home

Take the SafeTea pledge

The SafeTea website

Ambassadors and supporters can find out more about the SafeTea campaign and register their interest to get involved. Material is available to download from the website, and promotion packs for professional supporters to use with parents can be requested and will be posted out.

Go to SafeTea website

A new wellbeing resource for pregnancy and post-birth

iHV is delighted to work with Tommy’s and other partners on the launch of a new mental health digital tool for pregnancy and post-birth – the digital version of the NICE-approved Pregnancy and Post-birth Wellbeing Plan.

The new digital tool, created in partnership with Tommy’s, the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), Netmums, Public Health England (PHE) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), is called: Your Baby’s Mum: A wellbeing plan for pregnancy and post-birth.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, commented:

“I am delighted to have been part of the group to refresh the Wellbeing Plan, and to make it digital. This has proved a hugely helpful tool for health visitors to share with parents in the past during their antenatal visit, and that will be easier now as it can be shared as a link. Until she has a child, many women have little idea of what the impact will be on them. However, with a little planning no new mum needs to find herself feeling isolated or lonely, and this tool will help her plan reliable sources of support in advance.”

The resource, and accompanying Your Baby’s Mum campaign, is designed to help all pregnant women to think and talk about their mental wellbeing in the pregnancy and post-birth period, and to plan early for support and self-care after the birth. The tool is suitable and available for all pregnant women and can be completed at any point in pregnancy.

The tool will help pregnant women make a plan for their mental wellbeing and it will offer extra support to those who need it during pregnancy. It has a tailored route for women who have suffered a previous pregnancy loss or premature birth, which acknowledges the extra anxiety this can cause.

The Wellbeing Plan aims to:

encourage self-care for emotional wellbeing
help women identify symptoms of mental health problems
help women prepare mentally for the post-birth period
help women identify sources of support after the birth that can improve wellbeing.

Please watch the Your Baby’s Mum campaign animation:

Go to Wellbeing Plan (via Tommy's website)

iHV welcomes NSPCC Fight for a Fair Start Campaign

iHV welcomes the NSPCC ‘Fight for a Fair Start’ campaign – calling on Government to ensure all new parents receive a minimum of five face-to-face visits from the same health visitor.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, commented:

The Institute of Health Visiting welcomes the NSPCC Fight for a Fair Start campaign and its call to strengthen the essential support that health visitors should be offering to all families during the first years of their baby’s life.

The reduction in universal contacts by health visitors following the loss of one in four health visitors over the past 4 years, often accompanied by fragmenting of continuity of care, means that there may be a generation of children and new families with emotional health needs which are going unrecognised. Indeed, the Children’s Commissioner has already expressed her concern regarding hidden children, those with significant needs who may not be sufficiently well known to services. We are aware that the number of referrals to child mental health services has doubled over the past few years and this can only be set to increase further unless there is new investment into supporting new families.

Implementation of the new green paper on public health (Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s) would seem to provide an impetus for reinvestment. We hope that the Treasury will take that opportunity using the next Spending Review before even more children’s lives are affected.

One in four families across England are missing out on vital health visits as their baby reaches their first birthday, increasing the risk of mental health issues with the parents going undetected. Data from Public Health England for 2017/18 has also revealed that these 12 month visits drop to around one in two for families living in London.

In addition, further NSPCC research highlights that antenatal visits are particularly inconsistent, with an estimated 38% of families not receiving a health visit before the mother gives birth.

The transfer of budgetary responsibility for health visiting services from the NHS to local authority public health in 2015 has coincided with a significant reduction in the public health budget and workforce numbers.

There has been a 26% fall in health visitors employed by the NHS operating nationwide between 2015 and 2019, with almost half of those still in the service working with caseloads of more than 400 children each. The Institute of Health Visiting recommends a maximum of one health visitor to every 250 children to ensure a safe service is delivered.

In response the NSPCC is launching a national campaign ‘Fight for a Fair Start’, and is calling on the Government to ensure all parents receive a minimum of five face-to-face visits undertaken by a consistent health visitor.

The NSPCC is inviting people to join the campaign by raising their voice and signing the Fight for a Fair Start petition.

Read full NSPCC press release