It seems incredible that we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Institute of Health Visiting. Since our launch as a centre of excellence for health visiting on 28 November 2012, there is so much to celebrate at this important landmark in our journey. Anniversary landmarks are important as they provide a time to celebrate achievements, remember the ‘highs and lows’ and  everyone who supported us and shared our journey with us. So many people have played a crucial part in our success over the last ten years – we did it together – thank you!

Yesterday evening, the iHV hosted an evening reception to mark this special occasion. The event was held at 10 Union St. in London – the impressive new building and shared home of our close partners, the Royal College of Midwives, and the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. We were delighted to gather together with colleagues, partners, supporters, funders, members, Fellows and the iHV team who have all contributed to the Institute’s success and been the driving force behind the organisation. They are all ‘friends’ of the iHV and share our vision to improve health and reduce inequalities for babies, young children, families and communities – and recognise the value of health visiting.

iHV 10th Anniversary celebration – 8 December 2022

In particular, it was very special to welcome the four founding health visiting academics who provided the vision and were the driving force behind the Institute: Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Prof Dame Sarah Cowley DBE, Prof Sally Kendall MBE and Prof Ros Bryer. We were also joined by our first Chair, Sally Russell OBE. We are indebted to all of them for their clear vision and tenacity to turn a seedling idea into the fully functioning and successful organisation that the iHV is today.

5 women standing in front of a banner

The iHV’s Founders (from the left): Prof Ros Bryar, Prof Sally Kendall MBE, Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Sally Russell OBE, Professor Dame Sarah Cowley DBE

Professor Dame Sarah Cowley DBE, who is fondly known by many health visitors as the ‘god’ of health visiting, brought the opening address and reflections on behalf of the iHV Board of Trustees. Sarah has been so enormously influential in guiding the profession through her academic activities over very many years.

Prof Dame Sarah Cowley DBE

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE needed no introductions as our second speaker, and the driving force behind the iHV as its first Executive Director (2012-2020). The Institute of Health Visiting, health visitors, and families across the UK owe a huge debt to Cheryll for the inspiration she has provided through her establishment of our organisation. Read more about the early days of the iHV in a fabulous blog by our first Executive Director Dr Cheryll Adams CBE here.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE

The iHV’s current Executive Director, Alison Morton, then brought an update on the iHV’s achievements over the last two years and the organisation’s priorities and vision for the future. We launched our latest annual report which contains highlights from the last year, as well as an overview of key achievements from our first ten years.

Alison Morton, iHV’s Executive Director

Every year, the iHV Board of Trustees bestows an Honorary Fellowship award at its annual event. These awards are only made to individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to not only the iHV, but also the profession of health visiting and the families we serve. We were delighted to award this year’s Honorary Fellowship to Sally Hogg. Sally is well-known in the sector as a champion for babies and was described as ‘a galvanising force for good who has worked tirelessly to address the baby blind spot in national policy’.

Sally Hogg receiving her Honorary Fellowship of the iHV from Prof Dame Sarah Cowley and Alison Morton

We were also delighted to launch two short films to raise the profile of health visiting and shine a light on the valuable work that health visitors do. Read our full news story for an overview of the films and links to view them.

Thank you to everyone who joined our celebrations. Collaboration lies at the heart of the work of the Institute, and we look forward to our continuing work together over the next ten years, and beyond.

Images from iHV 10th Anniversary event

Images from iHV 10th Anniversary event

Photo credits: Matthew Walker Photography

 

 

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

Calling all iHV Members!

Are you involved in educating health visitor students within their SCPHN programme?

Are you a practice assessor/ teacher or practice supervisor?

Are you a SCPHN Lecturer or programme lead?

If so, welcome to our next Practice Education Networking event for iHV members on 9 December 2021, 09:30 – 11:30.

Our member Practice Education Networking events are an opportunity to share good practice and learn together to shape leadership in practice education. We very much see this as a two-way process, and the Networking Events also provide an opportunity for us to update you on our workstreams and the national direction.

On 9 December 2021, we look forward to partnering with our colleagues at the Queen’s Nursing Institute. Angie Hack will introduce us to a QNI-led project on the development of Practice Teacher standards. Networking together will be a two-way process to help us collectively “get it right” for SCPHN students and other community nursing disciplines.

If you are unable to locate your iHV membership number, please contact [email protected] and we will be happy to confirm this for you.

Networking Agenda – 9 December 2021:

  • 09:30 – Chair’s welcome and introduction
  • 09:35-  Angie Hack, Assistant Director of Nursing Programmes – The Queen’s Nursing Institute, Introduction to the development of the QNI Standards for Practice Teachers
  • 09:50 – Breakout rooms – exploring key questions for ‘standards’
  • 10:20- Q&A to Angie
  • 10:35- Refresh and recharge
  • 10:45 – Our feedback
  • 11:05 – Taking it back to our practice partners – networking
  • 11:20 – Future networking events and iHV activities
  • 11:25 – Evaluation
  • 11:30 – Close

 

 

We’re looking for health visitors who are interested in becoming an Ambassador for Changing Conversations within their local area.

 

 

Changing Conversations is an exciting new project focused on a range of new online resources for health visitors to support their role with children with autism and their families. Supported by the Burdett Trust for Nursing, the iHV has co-developed these resources in partnership with families and field experts which will be available as part of a digital toolkit  via a unique login on the iHV website

Sign up to join one of our free training days to find out how to promote and lead the importance of family-centre support for families of children with autism as an Ambassador for Changing Conversations. These free training events will be virtual (via Zoom online platform) and have been designed to be interactive, including expert speakers, parents with lived experience, and introduction to the resources.

The aims of the training day are to:

  • Increase understanding and insight into the impact of autism on families
  • Equip health visitors to be local Ambassadors for Changing Conversations
  • Introduce and provide resources to support and cascade best practice
  • Opportunity for networking

Resources include:

  • Good Practice Points
  • Parent Tips
  • Parent and child stories
  • Films
  • Case studies
  • One-hour awareness session to cascade your learning to your team
  • Collated research and literature that will support the health visitor knowledge base and provide quality assured resources that families can be signposted to.

All these resources will be available to those that attend via a unique login and digital toolkit following the training events.

Virtual training dates:

  • Wednesday 4th November – 08:45 to 13:15
  • Tuesday 10th November – 08:45 to 13:15
  • Thursday 26th November – 08:45 to 13:15

These free training events are virtual (via Zoom online platform).

 

How to apply:

  • Limited places available.
  • You must have approval from your manager to attend, and a commitment to cascade the training to your colleagues.
  • Non-attendance will result in a £50 charge for your organisation.
  • Register your interest by completing the online form

 

North of England Health Visitor, Celebrate, Share and Learn Event

This event is supported by NHS England, Health Education North East, Health

Education North West, and Health Education Yorks and Humber.

We are pleased to confirm the following National speakers:

  • Teresa Fenech, Deputy Director: Quality Assurance, NHS England.
  • Pauline Watts, Professional Officer for Health Visiting, Department of Health.

And two of many confirmed workshops:

  • ‘Reducing unintentional injuries amongst children and young people’
  • ‘NMC revalidation is on the way: are you ready?’

Open to those HVs working in the – North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber.

Wednesday 15th October 2014

09:30 – 16:30 – Hilton Leeds City

Come and share your experiences with iHV during our workshop