iHV Leadership conference 2023 recordings available

Last week, health visiting leaders, practitioners, policy makers and partners joined together in London for the Institute of Health Visiting’s annual Leadership conference. The event was held at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists/ Royal College of Midwives’ headquarters at 10 Union Street in London. Despite significant travel disruptions caused by the rail strike, 162 delegates were able to attend in-person, with a further 102 delegates registered online – with many saying that they wouldn’t miss it for the world! Thank you, we really value all your support.

The title of the conference was “Leading in a complex world” – if we have ever needed strong leaders, we need them now! With so much rapid change, it is even more important that we take time out to take stock, and learn, and reflect together. The aim of the iHV Leadership conference is for everyone to leave the conference feeling proud of the work that they do, valued, inspired, connected and energised with lots of new ideas to lead health visiting into the future.

iHV Leadership Conference 2023

The conference had a stellar line-up of national expert keynote speakers and panellists who skilfully covered an extensive breadth of topics including the impacts of child poverty, preconception care, preventative approaches to address the pressures on urgent care, health visiting research and education priorities (read the programme here). We were also delighted to be joined by Dame Ruth May DBE, the Chief Nursing Officer for England, who shared her new Vision for Nursing and Midwifery (including health visiting), hot off the press after it was launched at the CNO Summit a couple of weeks ago. Whilst this Vision is aimed at health visitors in England, a number of the priorities that the Vision is addressing will be similar priorities for all UK nations, with lots of transferable principles wherever health visitors are working.

Dame Ruth May DBE, CNO England, addressing iHV Leadership Conference 2023

In her keynote address, Dame Ruth said:

“I’ve been wanting to set out a Vision for nurses, midwives – and now health visitors – going forwards into the future… the Institute of Health Visiting has played a real part in that, wanting to make sure that health visiting, and school nursing, and public health nursing were definitely part of it.”

Dame Ruth went on to explain that it was “no accident” that “Prevention, protection promotion and reducing health inequalities” is the first priority area in her Vision. When the order of the priority areas were being decided, amongst 6 other competing important priorities, Ruth explained that it was important to highlight the “step change” needed to prioritise this area by putting it first. The remaining six ‘priority areas’ of Ruth’s Vision will also need to be translated into key actions for health visiting to ensure that they are achieved. The seven priority areas are:

Prevention, protection, promotion and reducing health inequalities
Protecting our planet
Person-centred care
Public and patient safety
Professional leadership and integration.

With two additional enabling areas focused on:

Professional culture
People and workforce development.

Ruth called on health visitors to join with her in delivering this Vision, which would start with understanding the data on health visiting workforce and service delivery – Ruth made a plea for help with this. The keynote address concluded with Ruth reiterating her commitment to health visiting, her desire to work with practitioners and the iHV, and to use her voice with the government of the day, stating, “I look forward to working with you – I look forward to working for you – and look forward to you challenging me, making sure we make this a reality”.

Ruth’s keynote address was then followed by an interesting panel discussion which included reflections and comments from Dr Helen Duncan (National Lead for Lifecourse Intelligence, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities), Liz Fenton (Deputy Chief Nurse, Workforce, Training and Education Directorate, NHS England) and Nicky Brown (Senior Nurse/Public Health Specialist Babies, Children and Young People, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities).

iHV Leadership Conference 2023

Overall, the conference has received excellent feedback in the post-event evaluations received so far. There was an incredible buzz in the room as delegates connected with old friends and made new ones – there is something very special about meeting together as a health visiting community in London in the festive season.

The conference was recorded and all delegates will have received links to access all conference materials today that we have received permission to share to support further reflection and learning (if you have not received these, please do get in touch with [email protected] who can help).

Posts from #iHVLeadership2023

For those of you who could not either join us on the day or could not follow the #iHVLeadership2023 hashtag on X (formerly known as Twitter), we’ve collected and made a little “Wakelet” collection of the day’s posts so you can follow some of what was shared. Please see below.

Bookings now open for a brand-new national SEND conference!

We are delighted to announce the launch of a brand-new national SEND conference: ‘A Different Journey – The best life from the start’. This conference is being co-delivered by the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) and Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust on Thursday 14 March 2024 at Hertfordshire Development Centre in Stevenage.

The SEND conference aims to equip health visitors and early years practitioners with new knowledge and skills to support babies and young children with SEND, with a focus on early support and early identification of need.

Our conference programme includes inspirational local and national guest speakers and will encompass a wide range of SEND topics from experts in their field including:

Overview of national picture and SEND policy
Improving seamless support through Integrated Care Systems and pathways
Reaching underserved communities with SEND
Enhancing communication
Understanding Cerebral Palsy
Supporting a child with a cleft palate
Understanding Down’s Syndrome
Neurodiversity in the early years
Safeguarding is everyone’s business

Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust previously hosted a SEND Health Conference in October 2022 which attracted national interest and requests for a national SEND conference. In collaboration with the iHV, and in response to demand, we are delighted to launch our first national SEND conference. This has been made possible through a partnership collaboration between the iHV and Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust. Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust received excellent feedback from delegates stating that it was ‘unique’, and they left feeling ‘inspired’ and had ‘new knowledge and tools to improve their practice’!

Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to enhance your health visiting practice and make a difference to babies and children with SEND.

Our early bird ticket sales are now open – book at discounted rates by 31 January 2024.

Find out more about our programme, speakers and how to book

Exclusive Lads Like Us recording is now available to view!

We are delighted to share an exclusive recording of the ‘Lads Like Us’ keynote session at our recent Evidence-based Practice Conference: ‘Hope for the Future’, held in Manchester on 21 September.

‘Lads Like Us’ was set up by Mike Hurst and Danny Wolstencroft who both experienced trauma, including sexual abuse, as children. They now deliver highly acclaimed training all over the country to multi-agency professionals, considering the impact of childhood trauma on mental health, substance misuse, offending behaviour and parenting.

The recording includes a short presentation by Mike followed by a group discussion between Mike and his former health visitor, Louise (Lou) Hamer, who he credits as being the person who ‘turned his life around’. Lou is now the Designated nurse for safeguarding children at Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB).

In his presentation, Mike speaks about how he was unexpectedly reunited with Lou when she attended their ‘Million Pieces’ training session as a delegate. During the training Mike shared the difference that his health visitor had made to him – and then Lou realised that he was speaking about her! Mike describes how Lou’s professional curiosity looked beyond the challenges he faced to understand the ‘why’ in his story and this was the catalyst for change.

Lou shared how much it has meant to her to be reunited with Mike – it has helped her make sense of her career, to see the difference that she had made – although in Lou’s words, she was only doing her job.

We hope that by sharing this story, every health visitor will take encouragement from knowing that they will have their own examples of people like ‘Mike’, whose lives they have impacted for good. However, only a few will have the privilege to meet up again like Mike and Lou.

The session was very impactful and is captured in this comment from one of our delegates:

“The parent voice session with Mike Hurst and Louise Harmer will stay with me for a long time. I will always ‘ask why’ from now on and think of them”.

Watch Mike and Lou’s session below (Advisory: this video contains adult/offensive language):

All iHV conferences set out to encourage and inspire. We are in the final stages of preparation for our annual Leadership Conference: ‘Leading in a complex world’ on 6 December in London and hope you can join us.

We always like to ‘do something different’ within the programme at our conferences to help us connect with the purpose of our work and think ‘outside the box’. At the Leadership conference, we are delighted to be able to showcase a short excerpt from a theatre production developed by the Champions Project to address the invisibility of children living in homeless accommodation. No spoilers – but this powerful production is breaking new ground in driving policy change using innovative approaches. It really is a ‘must see’.

We have a fantastic line up of high-profile speakers including but not limited to:

Dame Ruth May DBE – Chief Nursing Officer for England: A Nursing Strategy for Health Equity
Dr Camilla Kingdon – President RCPCH: Child health challenges: what are the solutions in a cost-of-living crisis?
Professor Bola Oluwabi – Director Health Inequalities NHS England: Tackling inequalities in child health
Toni Estevez – Lived Life Solutions Expert, Shelter: Temporary housing, poverty and health.

Don’t miss out on this great opportunity for professional development and also connect with practitioners from across the UK.

Book your early bird tickets today! Available until 31 October.

See the full programme here.

For further details and ticket pricing

Book your place now

Book 5 or more group tickets to get a further 15% discount

For more details on Lads Like Us please see: https://www.ladslikeus.co.uk/

iHV EBP Conference 2023 – a fabulous event!

What an amazing and packed day we had yesterday at the iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference 2023: Hope for the future. We had a full house – with more than 300 people including delegates, exhibitors and speakers!

Held on Thursday 21 September 2023 at King’s House Conference Centre, Manchester, it was the must-attend event in 2023 for those interested in health equity and a brighter future, where all babies can thrive and live healthy lives. We looked to see how can we use the best available evidence and research to promote health equity and strengthen health visiting practice.

The conference showcased the very best of health visiting practice and research. From start to finish, the event was packed with examples of the difference that health visiting can make, led by practitioners with the vision to make the most of the opportunities, and navigate a path through the challenges, to a better future.

#iHVEBP2023

Long-standing health care disparities and inequities have been illuminated and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent cost of living crisis. Systemic inequities, such as poverty and economic disadvantage are preventing babies, children, and families from achieving optimal health, leading to avoidable differences in health outcomes.

#iHVEBP2023

#iHVEBP2023

Our conference programme brought together local, national, and international experts and speakers who are focused on strengthening health visiting practice. Our speakers focused on how we can build on the present to help shape the future of health visiting and tackle inequalities and improve outcomes for babies, children and families.

#iHVEBP2023

With 4 concurrent sessions running during the morning and another 4 concurrent sessions in the afternoon, in addition to the morning and afternoon keynote sessions, there was plenty for the delegates to listen to and learn about.

See the conference programme

Some early comments and feedback:

Thanks for a great conference. My head was buzzing all night thinking of ways to introduce all the learning from yesterday.

All great – I have left conference feeling newly committed to make a difference.

Very impactful

Parent voice session with Mike Hurst and Louise Harmer will stay with me for a long time. I will always say Why? from now on and think of them.

Overall the whole day was jam packed and engaging with lots to take away and reflect on.

The whole day was inspirational and interesting.

We travelled a long way to the conference but it was worth every hour to talk to others from all over the country, share ideas and good practice and also know we are all in it together improving families lives.

Excellent day! Thank you

A brilliant day.

What a fantastic day.

Very informative conference – I will very definitely like to attend the next one.

Posts from #iHVEBP2023

For those of you who could not either join us on the day or could not follow the #iHVEBP2023 hashtag on X (formerly known as Twitter), we’ve collected and made a little “Wakelet” collection of the day’s posts so you can follow some of what was shared. Please see below.

Bookings now open for iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference 2023

We are delighted to announce that we will be back in Manchester at King’s House Conference Centre on 21 September 2023 for this year’s iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference.

The focus of this year’s EBP conference is health equity. How can we ensure a brighter future, where all babies can thrive and live healthy lives? How can we use the best available evidence and research to promote health equity and strengthen health visiting practice?

Long-standing healthcare disparities and inequities have been illuminated and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis. Systemic inequities, such as poverty and economic disadvantage are preventing babies, children, and families from achieving optimal health, leading to avoidable differences in health outcomes.

We very much look forward to welcoming you to this popular event.

Don’t miss our special early bird ticket rates, available until 30 June – book your place today! In addition, groups bookings of 5 or more will receive a 15% discount off the total order when booked at the same time.

Programme & Speakers

Our conference programme brings together local, national, and international experts and speakers who are focused on strengthening health visiting practice. The presentations and workshops will reflect the breadth of health visiting practice, within a “whole system” public health approach, with the aim to equip health visitors with new knowledge and skills to address key challenges in prevention and early intervention work with babies, children, and families.

Featured speakers include:

Professor Flora Douglas, Professor of Public Health, Robert Gordon University – Maternal and infant food insecurity
Greg Fell, Director of Public Health in Sheffield – Nanny State
Professor Monica Lakhanpaul, Professor of Integrated Community Child Health Population, Policy & Practice Dept, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health – Homelessness research
Nicky Brown, Senior Nurse and Public Health Specialist BCYP Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Department of Health and Social Care – Pan-London SCPHN workforce development
Sally Shearer OBE, Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel – Messages for clinical practice
Nicola Jay, Reducing urgent care admissions – a whole systems approach
Mike Hurst, Parent Voice – Lived experience of homelessness
Vicky Gilroy, iHV Head of Projects & Evaluation – Building Research Capacity
Victoria Jackson, iHV Senior Programme Manager – Projects and Evaluation – Strep A, Flu and Respiratory Illnesses
Sally Shillaker, iHV Practice Development Lead – Genomics
Alison Morton, iHV CEO
Vicky Gilroy and Victoria Jackson, iHV Projects Team – Cardiovascular disease, using the Family Partnership Model
Plus, more to be announced soon!

Find out more and book

New opportunity: Events Manager

Exciting and unique local opportunity with the Institute of Health Visiting

Events Manager
Based: Home-based and the Emsworth Office, Hampshire
Permanent
Full-time

Do you have events management experience? Are you hardworking, flexible, highly organised and efficient? Are you an excellent communicator, reliable and focused on promoting high quality in all you do, with good attention to detail?

Do you want to take the next step in your career at the Institute of Health Visiting, a highly successful and growing UK-wide charity with a clear vision and positive values that make it a great place to work?

If yes, then come and join us. The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is seeking to appoint a full-time Events Manager with a proven track record of the planning, management and delivery of face-to-face and online events across a broad range of activities from workshops and network meetings to conferences.

The iHV is a fast-paced organisation that operates with a blended working model with team members distributed throughout the UK. The post holder will work predominantly from home, with an expectation to come into our Emsworth office at least 1-2 days per week, with occasional UK travel for meeting and conferences that may require overnight stays.

The post holder will require a high level of both efficiency and initiative, excellent communication skills, and a willingness to plan and manage a number of events at any one time. The successful candidate will have strong project planning, organisational, administrative and IT skills, with a keen eye for detail and a positive attitude to teamwork, learning and development.

The iHV’s portfolio of events and conferences is growing. This is an exciting opportunity for someone to really make their mark in supporting innovation and growth by planning events to meet the needs of the people we serve and improve their experience. You will be rewarded by the opportunity to join a unique and vibrant national charity, with a welcoming and supportive team, where two days are never the same. We know that the people who work at the iHV are its greatest asset and have made it the successful organisation that it is today. We believe that when everyone who works at the iHV is happy and feels supported to do a great job, then they care about the work that they do, which in turn is good for the iHV. You will also be rewarded knowing your work is making a real difference to babies, young children, families and communities, and the health visiting teams that support them.

You will work closely with our Head of Operations, Executive Director and Administrative Team.

If you have the skills and experience required and would relish the opportunity of working within a growing organisation, we would like to hear from you.

Applications close: 12 noon, Monday 12 December 2022

Interviews: Week Commencing 19 December 2022 via Zoom

For Job Description and how to apply

iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference – September 2022

We had a wonderful day at iHV’s annual Evidence-based Practice Conference – Together, Fairer, Stronger – #iHVEBP2022

The iHV EBP conference, held on 15 September 2022 at King’s House Conference Centre in Manchester, was our first face-to-face conference since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was fantastic to see so many delegates in person!

The focus of this year’s conference was on reducing health inequalities and strengthening integrated working. We explored the learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as opportunities to promote health visiting and its role in tackling current public health priorities and improving outcomes for babies, children and families.

Programme and Speakers

Our packed programme brought together local, national, and international experts and speakers, all focused on strengthening health visiting practice through sharing the latest evidence, research, and practice examples.

Our inspirational and passionate speakers included:

Tash Oakes-Monger, National LGBT Project Manager
Kenny Gibson, Deputy Director for NHS Safeguarding
Jim McManus, President Association of Directors of Public Health UK, and Director of Public Health
Alison Morton, Executive Director, iHV
Clare Worgan, Head of Training and Education, Sands
Dr Karen Whittaker, Education and Workforce Lead, iHV
Sammie McFarland, CEO and Founder, Long Covid Kids Charity
Pilar Cloud, Project Lead, Action Cerebral Palsy
Louise Wileman, Health Visitor and CONI Co-ordinator
Dr Kate Abbott, Clinical Psychologist
Dr Lisa Marsland, Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Martha Sercombe, Specialist Perinatal Mental Health, Health Visitor
Jo Claessens, BBC Tiny Happy People
Annalea Staples, Dental Therapist, University of Leeds
Dr Elizabeth Camacho, Health Economist, University of Manchester
Plus many, many more!

A big thank you to all our speakers, presenters and exhibitors for helping to make the day such a success!

View the programme here

Conference poster winner

Many congratulations to our best poster presentation winner: Tracey Long – with her poster Transition to adoptive parenthood: a conceptualisation

Best poster presentation winner: Tracey Long receiving her award from Alison Morton

Some of the Feedback

“It was my first iHV conference and it was much better than I expected. Having gone through covid it was lovely to hear people’s positive attitudes to health visiting and the information that was shared by all.”

“It was a fantastic conference, the quality of the speakers and range of topics was excellent. I feel reinvigorated in my purpose and have made some useful connections from other areas to link in with to progress programmes of work. Inspiring, welcoming and meaningful. Well done iHV!”

“Thank you for producing such an informative conference. The passion for the role shone though for me and inspired me as student at the start of my health visiting career.”

“Great venue, great speakers. Thank you for reinvigorating my HV Practice!”

Presentations

Please note that the conference presentations are available to conference delegates only and they will have been sent the password required to access this page:

Go to iHV EBP Conference 2022 speaker presentations - delegates only - password required

Tweets from #iHVEBP2022

For those of you who could not either join us on the day or could not follow the #iHVEBP2022 hashtag on Twitter, we’ve collected and made a little “Wakelet” collection of the day’s tweets so you can follow some of what was shared. Please see below.

OPEN FOR BOOKINGS: Infant Mental Health Conference 2022

We are delighted to be hosting our fourth annual PIMH Conference. This year’s event will focus on Infant Mental Health and is taking place on Wednesday 15 June as part of Infant Mental Health Awareness Week where the overall theme of the week is understanding early trauma.

Our conference is based on the Japanese concept of ‘Kintsugi’ where broken or damaged ceramics are not neglected or discarded but, instead, attract attention and respect and are repaired with meticulous care. Cracks and breaks are infused with precious gold lacquer, rendering the original fault lines strong and beautiful. Every time we see a piece of Kintsugi we know that there is a story behind it, that someone has cared enough about it to have it mended.

We will apply the Kintsugi metaphor to understanding early trauma; how the cracks and breaks occur, the artistry available for repair, and the stories behind the gold veins. We have a wonderful line-up of highly respected speakers to lead us through this journey, including:

Alan Stein, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at University of Oxford
Tessa Baradon, Consultant Parent-Infant Psychotherapist
Sally Hogg, Head of Policy and Communications at Parent-Infant Foundation
Paul Ramchandani, LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at University of Cambridge

BOOK NOW

There will be opportunities to hear of award-winning innovations, contribute to discussions, be updated about policy development, and reflect on how health visiting, as part of the wider family mental health and wellbeing systems, can contribute to promoting good infant mental health. Please do come and join us for what promises to be a challenging but inspirational event.

Until this years’ iHV Infant Mental Health Conference!

Our early bird rates end at 17:00 on Friday 29 April 2022.

If you are an iHV Member ensure you have your membership number ready to use as a discount code to secure your member discount. For any other details on how to purchase a ticket individually or for a group booking, please email [email protected].

*All ticket prices are exempt from VAT and the student rates apply to SCPHN Students only.

*Offer can be used for iHV Member and Non-member rates ONLY. Discount not available when purchasing Student or Retired Member tickets. Each discounted offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.

Call for abstracts for iHV Evidence-based Practice conference 2022

Would you like to share your practice developments or research at our 2022 annual evidence-based practice (EBP) conference – “Together | Fairer | Stronger” on 15 September 2022 at King’s House Conference Centre in Manchester?

If so, we would love to hear from you! The EBP conference will be a fabulous event for you to showcase your work whilst sharing learning and innovations in practice.

We welcome submissions that support the overall theme of reducing health inequalities and strengthening integrated working from researchers, and educators. We know that many practitioners are also leading innovative improvement projects in practice, and we want to provide an opportunity for you to showcase and disseminate your findings to a wider audience.

We are keen to showcase best practice examples of effective integrated working and would also be especially delighted to receive applications from community nursery nurses and other health visiting associate practitioners. Non-UK applicants will also be considered if their work can demonstrate transferable learning.

Why should I submit an abstract?

To showcase your work, disseminate your findings to a national audience and raise the profile of your organisation
To enhance research in health visiting
To inform others about positive, innovative approaches to improve evidence-based practice in health visiting and preventative public health work focused on families with babies and young children
To raise the profile and benefits of an effective health visiting service focused on reducing health inequalities

Abstract/conference themes:

We are inviting abstracts that support the overall theme of the conference: Reducing health inequalities and strengthening integrated working:

Improving access/ reducing inequalities: We are particularly interested in submissions that improve the experience and outcomes of health visiting service users who encounter obstacles accessing health care, and/ or people with protected characteristics, for example: people from minoritised ethnic groups; people with disabilities; LGBTQI+ women and people; families experiencing homelessness; domestic abuse; substance misuse problems; mental illness and mental health problems; and safeguarding.
Integration: Innovations in health visiting practice or service delivery models from across the UK that can demonstrate impact within integrated/ ‘whole system’ public health approaches to addressing health inequalities.
Themes may also include, but are not limited to current priority public health topics:
- Transition to parenthood, including preconception care
- Breastfeeding
- Perinatal mental health (mothers, fathers, and partners)
- Infant and child mental health
- Healthy nutrition, physical activity, and healthy weight
- Managing minor illnesses, building health literacy and prevention of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
- Reducing unintentional injuries
- The uptake of immunisations
- Primary prevention and health promotion in oral health
- Child development 0-5 years, including speech, language and communication and school readiness
- Sleep
- Children with developmental disorders, disabilities, and complex health needs
- Tobacco, alcohol, and substance misuse in the perinatal period
- Healthy couple relationships
- Teenage parenthood

Abstract Submissions

The abstract submission deadline is 4 April 2022.

Please see Abstract Submission Guidelines and Timeline for further details on format and how to submit.

We are very excited that our EBP conference will be face to face. It will provide a great opportunity to showcase local work and network with colleagues and national experts from across the country. It really is a conference that can’t be missed!

Our Booking system is due to go live on 11 March so, in the meantime, please hold the conference date in your diary – 15 September 2022 at King’s House Conference Centre in Manchester.

Call for abstracts for iHV Evidence-based Practice conference 2022

The iHV is delighted to offer you the opportunity to present your practice or research at our 2022 annual evidence-based practice (EBP) conference – “Together | Fairer | Stronger” on 15 September 2022 at King’s House Conference Centre in Manchester

We are pleased to announce that this will be our first face-to-face conference since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are all looking forward to being able to meet again, network and share ideas together.

Our conference programme brings together local, national, and international experts and speakers who are focused on strengthening health visiting practice through sharing the latest evidence, research, and practice examples.

The focus of this year’s conference is on reducing health inequalities and strengthening integrated working. We will explore the learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as opportunities to promote health visiting and its role in tackling current public health priorities and improving outcomes for babies, children and families.

Alison Morton, Executive Director iHV, commented:

“We look forward to welcoming you to Manchester in September 2022 to explore the latest evidence-based practice and research on key public health priorities for health visiting. Everyone is welcome as we come together again, in person, to share best practice and research – let’s build on the present to help shape the future of health visiting and tackle inequalities. We look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible.”

Abstract Themes/Topics

We encourage submissions that support the overall theme of the conference to reduce inequalities.

We are interested to hear from researchers, educators and clinicians who have led work in the following areas from across all nations of the UK (non-UK applicants will also be considered and should demonstrate transferable learning):

Integration: Innovations in health visiting practice or service delivery models that can demonstrate impact within integrated/ ‘whole system’ public health approaches to addressing health inequalities. We are keen to showcase examples from across all nations of the UK.
Improving access/ reducing inequalities: We are particularly interested in submissions that improve the experience and outcomes of health visiting service users who encounter obstacles accessing health care, and/ or people with protected characteristics, for example: people from minoritised ethnic groups; people with disabilities; LGBTQI+ women and people; families experiencing homelessness; domestic abuse; substance misuse problems; mental illness and mental health problems; and safeguarding.
Conference themes may include, but are not limited to, the current priority public health topics for health visitors and health visiting skill-mix teams:

1. Transition to parenthood, including preconception care
2. Breastfeeding
3. Perinatal mental health (mothers, fathers and partners)
4. Infant and child mental health
5. Healthy nutrition, physical activity and healthy weight
6. Managing minor illnesses, building health literacy and prevention of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
7. Reducing unintentional injuries
8. The uptake of immunisations
9. Primary prevention and health promotion in oral health
10. Child development 0-5 years, including speech, language and communication and school readiness
11. Sleep
12. Children with developmental disorders, disabilities and complex health needs
13. Tobacco, alcohol and substance misuse in the perinatal period
14. Healthy couple relationships
15. Teenage parenthood

We would be delighted to receive applications from community nursery nurses and all other health visiting practitioners who support babies and young children. We will be holding a special concurrent session for these valued roles.

Submissions: The abstract submission deadline is 4 April 2022.

See Abstract Submission Guidelines and Timeline for further details on format and how to submit