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 evidence paper published by the National Children’s Bureau

New evidence paper published by the National Children’s Bureau: Impact of investing in prevention on demand for statutory children’s social care

The final report of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care is expected imminently. To support the launch of the Review, the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) has worked with their academic partners to showcase the latest research on children’s social care.

The NCB’s new evidence paper (Impact of investing in prevention on demand for statutory children’s social care) demonstrates that investing in prevention, including family support and early help, can reduce demand for more expensive crisis support later, and also leads to better services overall.

The NCB says:

“We have a unique opportunity to strengthen families and invest in early intervention. We must seize this moment to transform children’s lives for the better. Rarely has the case for early investment been so clearly articulated. We have to seize the moment”.

Highlights from the evidence paper:

Increased spending on children’s social care preventative services (including family support and early help) has a positive impact on:
- Ofsted judgements
- Numbers of Children in Need
- Rates of 16–17-year-olds starting periods in care.
The distribution of local authority spending on prevention has become increasingly less well matched to need.
Two recent papers have reinforced the contributory causal relationship between family poverty and levels of child abuse and neglect and the demand for children’s social care services, including rates of entry to care.

The evidence paper concludes with a brief summary of further contextual research on the association between household income and intervention, and on systems-thinking in children’s social care.

You can read more in the NCB’s evidence paper here.

You can join the iHV in raising awareness of the publication of the NCB’s evidence paper and share on social media using the prepared tweet below:

The imminent #CareReview is our chance to secure a future where every child feels safe, secure & supported @NCBtweets’ new evidence paper shows how investment in preventative services can help build that future, saving money in the process. https://bit.ly/3yO2Y2D

iHV presents at APPG for Conception to Age Two

If you missed yesterday’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Conception to Age Two meeting held online, you can watch it on the link below.

Yesterday’s APPG meeting was chaired by Tim Loughton MP, and the topic was ‘Midwives, Health Visitors and Family Hubs’. Alison Morton, Executive Director iHV, gave evidence on the challenges and opportunities facing health visiting – you can listen to Alison at 1:10:52 until 1:23:00.

Go to YouTube to watch the APPG

iHV welcomes Early Years Commission – A Cross-party Manifesto

We’re delighted to see yesterday’s cross-party support for the early years published in the Early Years Commission: A cross-party manifesto – #EarlyYearsManifesto. Yet more evidence for the case for investment.

Alison Morton, Executive Director iHV, who provided evidence on health visiting as a witness to the commission commented:

“The importance of getting it right for every child cannot be over-emphasised. I am delighted to see such strong cross-party agreements and a cross-departmental commitment to prioritise the earliest years of life set out so clearly in this report. The commission has highlighted the importance of tackling the root causes of siloed working alongside the benefits of investing early, rather than ‘firefighting’ and tackling emergencies. With so much attention on the early years at the moment, action to start to put this right cannot come soon enough”.

The manifesto outlines how our country must give every child the best start in life, and right now we are falling short. Despite improvements among some children, too many continue to fall behind in their first few years, particularly those living in poverty. Many are not ready to learn by the age of five and struggle with their health and wellbeing, leading to damaging long-term consequences. It is this reality which obstructs our country’s path to a more prosperous future. We will never truly level up if we don’t recognise this. There are steps we can take now to help those children, even though they and we may not realise the benefits for decades.

It is good to see health visitors mentioned as a key workforce that requires strengthening in order to achieve these ambitions.

Through their Cross-party Manifesto, The Early Years Commission calls on central and local government, community organisations, the private sector, parents, and society as a whole to come together to achieve this goal.

Read Early Years Commission: A cross-party manifesto

Help improve new standards for community and public health nurses

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has launched their public consultation for specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN) standards – building on ambitions for community and public health nursing.

The new NMC standards offer the opportunity to build on the advances in the evidence base for universal child and family health visiting for the pressing public health challenges of our times. It is vitally important that the views of health visitors are heard and shape these new standards.

We will be responding from the iHV – as well as submitting your own response, look out for our mailings on ways that you can help shape the iHV’s response.

The standards, for specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN) and specialist practice qualifications (SPQs), will equip the next generation of community and public health nurses working in health and social care with the right proficiencies to care for people in a rapidly changing world.

These essential education standards were last updated over 15 years ago. But we need fit for purpose standards that reflect the realities of modern nursing in health and social care now

These draft standards, which have been co-produced with subject experts, will provide the right proficiencies these professionals need to support and care for people in a rapidly changing world.

The consultation will run until Monday 2 August 2021. Normally these NMC consultations run for 12 weeks but they’ve extended this one to more than 16 weeks to give you and your colleagues more time to take part given the continued pressures on services caused by the pandemic.

Go to NMC public consultation - Building on ambitions for community and public health nursing

Call for abstracts

Call for abstracts for iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference “Looking ahead to a fairer future” – 21-22 September 2021

The iHV is delighted to offer you the opportunity to present your practice development or research at our 5th evidence-based practice conference – “Looking ahead to a fairer future”. This 2-day virtual conference is being held on 21 and 22 September 2021.

Our conference programme brings together local, national and international speakers focused on sharing best practice examples and research to improve health visiting practice. This conference will provide a much-needed time of reflection and learning from the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on babies, young children and their families, and the services that support them.

In particular, the conference will focus on reducing inequalities and this will be explored through a variety of different practice-related topics. What have we learnt from the pandemic? And how can we focus our efforts as we look ahead to the future with a shared ambition to build a fairer society?

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 to address key challenges in prevention and earliest intervention work with babies, children and families.

Abstract Topics

Health visitors provide a vital safety-net for all families, which is essential if we are serious about reducing inequalities.

We are open to abstracts which cover at least one of the following priority areas within the breadth of early years public health and health visiting practice, with a focus on reducing inequalities:

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 Submission and Timeline

Abstract format:

The abstract should be no more than 350 words and provide an overview of your practice development or research, clearly indicating the impact on health visiting practice.
Please structure your abstract as follows:
- aim
- objectives
- method
- results/ outcomes
- conclusion
- recommendations.
Please submit your abstract as a Microsoft Word document to [email protected].

Abstract Timeline:

The abstract submission deadline is 10 May 2021.
After an iHV peer-review process, participants will be informed of acceptance of abstracts for either oral presentation or an e-poster by the end of May.
Full guidance on the e-poster and oral presentation delivery format will be provided if your abstract is successful.

It is important that you book to secure your conference place on or before the final registration deadline for accepting your offer to present.

Please note that our booking system is not yet live – so in the meantime, please hold the conference dates in your diary: 21 and 22 September 2021.

Early years healthy development review: call for evidence

The Prime Minister has asked Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP to lead a new review into improving health and development outcomes of babies and young children in England. The time from conception to the age of 2 is a critical time for development and can impact physical health, mental health and opportunity throughout life.

The consultation would like to hear from recent parents, including those who gave birth during the lockdown, and public health response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, about the experiences of care and services you received.

They’d also like to hear from health service professionals, charities, volunteer groups and academics.

Your views can help to shape the outcome of the review – please use this opportunity and share to others to respond too.

The closing date for responses is 11:59pm on Friday 16 October 2020.

Go to Early years healthy development review: call for evidence

iHV submits powerful evidence to Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review

The Institute of Health Visiting has provided the Treasury with the latest evidence and cost benefits for new investment into health visiting as part of its Comprehensive Spending Review.

As the Institute submits its evidence to the Spending Review, Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, said:

“We hope that this clear rationale and evidence for investing into the early years through the health visiting service will be taken seriously when the Treasury reviews all the submissions. There has never been a greater need to act to support young families as they face the secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. A loss of 30% of the health visiting workforce, since cuts to public health budgets, is impacting on our most vulnerable citizens and their families, but this will also have a significant long-term legacy for the country as a whole.”

Read iHV's Evidence for the 2020 Comprehensive Spending Review

iHV postpones Evidence-based Practice conference 2020

COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak and iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference 2020

We’re very sorry to announce that our annual Evidence-based Practice Conference “Creating Healthy Children, 2020 and beyond”, which was scheduled to take place on 12-13 May 2020 in Manchester, will now be postponed in light of public health concerns caused by COVID-19.

We are very disappointed that we will be unable to showcase the latest research and practice developments in health visiting as planned – we had a fantastic line-up of speakers, poster presentations and exhibitors as part of the global celebration of Florence 2020.

We would like to thank everyone who had committed to join us at the conference and hope to be in a position to announce alternative arrangements in the near future – please keep a close eye on our website and social media channels for further information.

Call for abstracts – Creating healthy children: 2020 and beyond

iHV Evidence-based conference: Creating healthy children: 2020 and beyond

12 and 13 May 2020, Manchester

The iHV is delighted to offer you the opportunity to present your practice development or research at our latest evidence-based conference – Creating healthy children: 2020 and beyond.

This 2-day conference is being held on 12 and 13 May 2020 in Manchester. International delegates will be made very welcome.

Our conference programme brings together local, national and international speakers focused on sharing best practice examples and research to improve health visiting practice for babies, children and families. The presentations and workshops will reflect the breadth of health visiting practice and service development reflected primarily in the 15 High Impact Areas and 8 Key Principles set out in our recently published “Vision for the Future”.

The conference will also coincide with the 2020 anniversary celebrations of Florence Nightingale’s birth and we are keen to incorporate advances in public health nursing in recognition of Florence’s founding role in this field of nursing.

Abstract topics

Abstracts should be centred on public health, families, health visiting and relationships and aim to address at least one of the key elements of excellence in practice: personalised, collaborative, effective, evidence-driven, responsive, accessible, fairer and professional autonomy.

Abstracts will be considered on the following areas:

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 Submission and Timeline

Abstract format:

The abstract should be no more than 300 words and provide an overview of your practice development or research, clearly indicating the impact on health visiting practice.
Please structure your abstract as follows:
- aim
- objectives
- method
- results
- conclusion
- recommendations
Also, please tell us whether you would like to present this as an oral presentation or e-poster.
Please submit your abstract as a Microsoft Word document to [email protected]

Abstract Timeline:

The abstract submission deadline is 17 February 2020.
After an iHV peer-review process, participants will be informed of acceptance of abstracts for either oral presentation or a poster by 9 March 2020.

Full guidance on the e-poster and oral presentation delivery format will be provided if your abstract is successful.

Update – 20 January 2020 – Bookings now open!

It is important that you book to secure your conference place on or before accepting your offer to present and at the latest by 1 April 2020.

Earlybird tickets (for iHV members and non-members) are available until 20 March 2020, so please book early to secure your ticket at this highly popular event! Limited student places also available.

Please book early to secure these great discounts and avoid disappointment.

Go to our online booking system to book your place today