iHV SEND conference is sponsored by NHS England

We are proud to announce that our iHV SEND conference “A Different Journey: The Best Life from the Start”, on 14 March 2024, has been sponsored by NHS England (NHSE). This really is a conference not to be missed! We have a fantastic line-up of high-profile national speakers who will be presenting on the current SEND priorities and ways to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for babies and young children with SEND.

Leanne Gelder, Specialist Advisor of Quality Improvement from NHS England says:

‘We are very much looking forward to supporting this SEND event that the Institute of Health Visiting are running. As part of our work at NHS England to reduce restrictive practices in health care, we will be running a breakfast session to better understand the use and impact of restrictive interventions for people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions during pregnancy and the earliest years of life. The session will consider how we can work collaboratively to reduce this practice and improve patient experience’.

Our conference programme provides the latest thinking on SEND, with updates on national policy, research and examples of evidence-based practice. It is a great opportunity to learn about a wide range of SEND topics from experts in their field, including:

Dame Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England – who will provide an overview of the current landscape for children with SEND across England, exploring the problems, solutions and recommendations to government.
Professor Monica Lakhanpaul, Professor of Integrated Community Child Health, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health – who will be speaking about her ground-breaking work on children underserved, unheard and falling through the gaps.
Professor Simon Kenny OBE, National Clinical Director for Children and Young People at NHS England – who will provide a national update on NHS plans to improve joined-up care for children with SEND through integrated care.

Our conference programme aims to equip practitioners working with families with babies and young children with SEND with new knowledge and skills to support better early identification of need and joined up care. It will be beneficial for frontline practitioners (including health visitors, early years practitioners, Community Nursery Nurses and team members), as well as service leads and commissioners looking to improve the care and support offered to families to improve outcomes. The conference programme includes a wide range of “hot topics” for SEND including:

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

Our conference sponsor, NHS England will be sharing their national work on least restrictive practices, including women who have experienced restrictive interventions during pregnancy.

To see our full SEND conference programme and speakers, click here.

All ticket prices are heavily subsidised to help as many people to attend as possible. The conference is being held at the bespoke conference venue of the Hertfordshire Development Centre, Stevenage which is easily accessible via excellent road and rail links just north of London – online ticket options are also available (note: this option includes selected streams broadcast – see programme for details).

It's not too late to secure tickets at our popular Early Bird rates. To secure your ticket click here.

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

iHV GPPs for Down’s syndrome updated and ‘open access’

Thanks to generous funding from the Leieune Clinic for Children with Down Syndrome, the Institute of Health Visiting has updated, and made ‘open access’, its Good Practice Points (GPP) for health visitors supporting children with Down’s syndrome and their families.

People with Down’s syndrome have a genetic variation. Whilst they share some common features, it must be emphasised they are all individuals with their own abilities, needs, interests and aspirations. Down’s syndrome is not a disease and people who have Down’s syndrome are not ill.

The evidence base of what families with babies and children with Down’s syndrome value from health and related services has increased in recent years and should be acted upon in the design of services including health visiting. In November 2022, the iHV submitted evidence for the Department of Health and Social Care’s Down Syndrome Act 2022 guidance: call for evidence.

Colette Lloyd, Trustee of the Lejeune Clinic for Children with Down Syndrome, says:

“It is so important that all children, including children with Down Syndrome, are given the support they need to live happy and healthy lives from an early age. Therefore, we wanted to ensure that health visitors had access to the latest information on the additional support that children with Down Syndrome benefit from. We are delighted to partner with the Institute of Health Visiting to make these Good Practice Points available to all.”

There are two GPPs in this series:

The iHV developed these resources using co-production methods, with Down’s syndrome charities and parents with lived experience. As part of our scoping, families reported a postcode lottery of support – the quality of the service that they receive, and the skills of the staff that deliver it, really does depend on where they live. These GPPs are designed to address this gap by providing a summary of evidence-based information to support quality improvement in health visiting practice.

Like all children, children with Down’s syndrome are all different and will benefit from early intervention that is personalised to their identified needs. Personalised support should be in place as soon as the early signs are detected – for Down’s syndrome, this is likely to be at the antenatal screening when a ‘high chance’ of Down’s syndrome is detected. All parents are different and will respond to the diagnosis in an individual way. It is therefore extremely important that professionals take their lead from the parents. The Good Practice Points provide guidance in the specific areas of: growth, infant feeding, child development, managing minor illnesses, tailored support, and language/ terminology, as well as signposting to other resources for babies and young children with Down’s syndrome.

Go to GPP – Supporting children with Down’s syndrome and their families

Go to GPP – Supporting children with Down’s syndrome: growth, feeding and development

iHV Submission to the Down Syndrome Act Guidance: call for evidence

iHV has submitted its evidence for the DHSC Down Syndrome Act 2022 guidance: call for evidence which closes at 11.45pm on 8 November 2022.

The evidence base of what families with babies and children with Down’s syndrome value from health and related services has increased in recent years and should be acted upon in the design of services including health visiting. People with Down’s syndrome have a genetic variation. Whilst they share some common features, it must be emphasised they are all individuals with their own abilities, needs, interests and aspirations. Down’s syndrome is not a disease and people who have Down’s syndrome are not ill.

In the document below, we provide evidence in response to the questions for professionals, about health services, and in relation to the health visiting service in England.

iHV evidence for Down's Syndrome consultation submission - October 2022

iHV has resources to support its members in practice – please see Good Practice Points below:

GPP – Supporting children with Down’s syndrome and their families

GPP – Supporting children with Down’s syndrome: growth, feeding and development

New Good Practice Points on Supporting children with Down’s syndrome

The iHV is delighted to share two new Good Practice Points providing up-to-date evidence and references for our members.

Many thanks to our expert parent panel who have offered their advice to health visitors working with families with children with Down’s syndrome in these GPPs.

These two new Good Practice Points were developed in partnership with parents with children with Down’s syndrome who are “experts by experience”: Colette Lloyd, Angie Emrys-Jones and Pippa Cusack; and health visiting advisor Karen Afford. Infant feeding advice was provided by Sarah Edwards from the Breastfeeding Network.

Go to GPP - Supporting children with Down’s syndrome and their families

Go to GPP - Supporting children with Down’s syndrome: growth, feeding and development

Please note that these GPPs are available to iHV members only.

If you’re not a member, please join us to get access to all of our resources.

The iHV is a self-funding charity – we can only be successful in our mission to strengthen health visiting practice if the health visiting profession and its supporters join us on our journey. We rely on our membership to develop new resources for our members.

So do join us now!