Launch of the National PAIR Framework Project

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is delighted to be on the Advisory Group of the National Parent-Infant Relationship (PAIR) Framework, following the successful bid for National Lottery Funding by the Parent-Infant Foundation.

Hilda Beauchamp, PIMH Lead at iHV, was invited to share a few words at the launch of the project which was held at the Royal College of Nursing on 15 October. Hilda highlighted the unique role of health visitors as part of the wider system supporting healthy parent-infant relationships, and shared her hope that the resulting Framework will influence sustainable and equitable decision-making for all babies.

Hilda Beauchamp, PIMH Lead at iHV, presenting at the launch of the National Parent-Infant Relationship (PAIR) Framework

Led by the Parent-Infant Foundation, with delivery partners Ideas Alliance (coproduction) and Anna Freud (research), the National PAIR Framework is a four-year project. It will support the implementation of parent-infant relationship pathways and improve provision across the whole system, developing best practice in two areas:

Supporting babies and parent-infant relationships facing the greatest challenges
Supporting the journey of care for families across the whole system.

The National PAIR Framework will:

Provide overarching principles and guidance for parent-infant services throughout the journey of care.
Include core guidance for practitioners working with families facing the most challenges.
Cross-reference to guidance from other professional bodies working in the 0-2 field.
Include examples of good practice to enable flexible delivery that is sensitive to local commissioning contexts.
Have the voice of parents and babies at its heart.
Develop resources to enable the implementation of parent-infant pathways and provision in local areas.

The Framework will draw closely on a range of evidence sources including lived experience, learned experience, scientific peer-reviewed evidence, practice-based evidence and resources. We anticipate health visitors, iHV PIMH Champions, and Specialist Health Visitors in PIMH being invited to contribute to this, ensuring that their skill, knowledge and experience of working with babies, children and families is robustly considered.

The launch of the National Parent-Infant Relationship (PAIR) Framework held at the Royal College of Nursing on 15 October

Northern Ireland Government steps up commitment to give every child the best start in life

Senior government officials, health leaders, parents and stakeholders from a range of health, social care and support services, gathered at Stormont today to celebrate the launch of Northern Ireland’s new Healthy Child, Healthy Future Framework. The updated Framework provides a comprehensive national policy blueprint, laying out a bold vision for improving child health outcomes across the region.

The refresh of the Healthy Child, Healthy Future (HCHF) Framework has been widely welcomed as an important signal of Northern Ireland’s serious commitment to its babies, children and young people, supporting them to lay the foundations for lifelong health and wellbeing.

Launching the Framework, Mike Nesbitt MLA, Minister for Health, said:

“The framework recognises the evolving challenges faced by our babies, children, young people and families and embraces the principles crucial for reducing inequalities and improving population health outcomes. This must begin in the early years of a person’s life, as the importance of the first 1000 days is well documented in enhancing health outcomes.”

Mike Nesbitt MLA, Minister for Health, launching the Framework

In particular, the Minister set out his government’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that all babies, children, young people and families have access to a robust child health service with highly skilled healthcare professionals (including health visitors).

The Minister stated:

“The roles of midwives, health visitors, family nurses, general practitioners, school nurses and other health and social care professionals are pivotal in building relationships with families.

“Delivering this refreshed framework will require a phased approach and targeted investment, particularly in workforce capacity and training. While some enhancements can be achieved within existing resources, others will require additional support to ensure successful implementation and long-term sustainability… The importance of providing care at the right time, by the right person and in the right place, cannot be overstated and will undoubtedly lead to improved health outcomes, benefiting children and families for many years to come.”

Built on the best global evidence of ‘what works’, the 9 principles of the Child Health Promotion Programme for Northern Ireland are:

A Whole Child Model with an emphasis on improving outcomes for children and young people through integrated planning of services for children, young people and families.
Relationship building and continuity of carer.
A major emphasis on parenting support and positive parenting.
Recognition of developmental plasticity and neuroplasticity with particular emphasis on the first 1000 days and how life experience during this crucial period can have long-term implications for health, growth and development.
The inclusion of changing public health priorities.
An increased focus on vulnerable families, underpinned by a model of proportionate universalism with targeted and enhanced service provision for those babies and children with additional health and or social needs.
Multi-disciplinary service delivery, ensuring that the correct people have the necessary skills and competencies to deliver the programme.
The use of new technologies and scientific developments, to engage families in the promotion of health and wellbeing and improve quality outcomes.
Quality Assurance of programmes to monitor outcomes.

Alison Morton, iHV CEO, attended the launch event and said:

“The launch of the new HCHF Framework is good news for Northern Ireland. The evidence is clear – when babies, children and families thrive, the whole of society benefits. And I think it is excellent for 3 reasons: it puts babies, children, young people and families firmly at its centre, and is ambitious for them all to thrive; it is built on the best global evidence of what works, including the importance of a highly skilled child health workforce; and it’s more than words on a page, it’s backed up with Ministerial support and a pledge to turn it into reality.

“Congratulations to the whole team who have delivered such a significant and robust policy blueprint for child health – it has been both a privilege and great pleasure to have worked with the team in Northern Ireland, as a member of its HCHF Programme Board.”

Alison Morton at the Framework launch event, together with Sonia Glendinning (Nursing Officer, Department of Health, Northern Ireland) and Caroline Keown (Chief Midwifery Officer, Department of Health for Northern Ireland)

Go to Healthy Child, Healthy Future Framework (full and easy read versions)

Celebrating One Year of Impact

Join us for this open access webinar event as we mark the first anniversary of the iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting: 22 October 2025 (09:30-11:00)

Scroll down for webinar details and booking link.

We are delighted to be hosting a special webinar to celebrate the first anniversary of the UK-wide iHV Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting — a landmark initiative that is supporting and enhancing the way newly qualified health visitors are supported across the four nations.

The event will bring together national speakers, health visiting leads, preceptors, and preceptees from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to share powerful examples of how the Framework is being embedded locally. Attendees will hear how the Framework is enhancing preceptorship experiences, strengthening professional development, and fostering a culture of support and excellence in health visiting.

Launched in 2024, the iHV Preceptorship Framework was designed to provide a consistent, high-quality approach to supporting health visitors at the start of their careers. Over the past year, it has been embraced by services across the UK, helping to build confident, well-supported and valued practitioners who are equipped to deliver vital care to babies, children, families and communities – reducing health inequalities and improving outcomes.

Amanda Holland, iHV Professional Education, Learning and Development Lead, and co-author of the Framework said:

“I was delighted to lead the project to co-develop the iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting last year, with co-author Marian Judd and over 40 experts and stakeholders from across the UK. It’s been such a privilege to hear from colleagues across the four nations about how the Framework is already supporting local preceptorship arrangements and enhancing preceptorship experiences. This event is a fantastic opportunity to share and hear about early examples of positive impact and plans for continued quality improvements to preceptorship in health visiting across the UK.

“The Framework has also attracted international attention. I have been supporting Dr Colleen Ryan (Head of Professional Practice, School of Nursing and Midwifery and Social Care, CQ University, Australia) with meeting health visiting and 0-19 services to learn more about how they are using the iHV Preceptorship Framework and their local preceptorship arrangements. Huge thanks to all those who have shared their time to meet with me and Colleen, with special thanks to colleagues at Swindon Borough Council’s 0-19 Public Health Nursing Service – Betheny Oakes, Professional Lead for Practice Education, Jen Cantellow, Practice Educator, and Clare Harrington-Pye, Professional Lead for Health Visiting. Thanks also to Kathryn Stark, Team Manager, Hull 0-19 Integrated Public Health Nursing, and colleagues.”

Members of Swindon Borough Council’s 0-19 Public Health Nursing Service team

Dr Colleen Ryan – Head of Professional Practice, School of Nursing and Midwifery and Social Care, CQ University, Australia, said:

I’m developing plans for using the iHV Preceptorship Framework with Australian healthcare organisations for improving student and staff experiences of clinical placements. I hope organisations may be excited to use the Framework to embed preceptorship as a philosophy for enhancing job satisfaction, career development, student, staff and patient experiences and ultimately workforce recruitment and retention.

3 women standing and smiling into the camera

From left to right: Betheny Oakes – Professional Lead for Practice Education, Swindon Borough Council’s 0-19 Public Health Nursing Service; Amanda Holland – Professional Education, Learning and Development Lead, iHV; Dr Colleen Ryan – Head of Professional Practice, School of Nursing and Midwifery and Social Care, CQ University, Australia.

Betheny Oakes, Professional Lead for Practice Education, Swindon Borough Council’s 0-19 Public Health Nursing Service, added:

“It was a real privilege to host Dr Colleen Ryan and the iHV to showcase how we have embedded the Preceptorship Framework into our local practice. Our service has been proud to contribute to the development of the Framework, sharing our insights and learning to help shape a robust and meaningful approach to supporting newly qualified health visitors and school nurses. Seeing the framework come to life in our day-to-day work, we are positive that the impacts it’s having on our preceptees and preceptors has been incredibly rewarding.

“We’re excited to continue building on this foundation and supporting excellence in health visiting across the UK.”

Dr Michelle Moseley, iHV Director of Programmes (Learning and Development), commented:

“Effective preceptorship is crucial in supporting newly qualified health visitors transition into their roles. With the support of a structured framework, the preceptee is offered an experience which is quality assured, consistent and preceptee focused. This allows the newly qualified health visitor to settle into their role with the necessary support to nurture, empower and develop their practice within their first year.

“We celebrate that our Framework is now one-year-old and starting to embed in health visiting practice across the UK and beyond! Its use is an attractive offer for organisations to recruit and retain their health visiting workforce who are essential in supporting the development of babies, children and their families in reaching their full potential.”

Webinar Details and Booking Link

Celebrating One Year of Impact – The First Anniversary of the iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting

Wednesday 22 October 2025 (09:30-11:00)

This celebratory webinar will not only reflect on the achievements of the past year but also look ahead to the future of preceptorship in health visiting. It promises to be an inspiring morning of shared learning, collaboration, and recognition of the incredible work being done to nurture the next generation of health visitors.

Chairing the event are the co-authors of the iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting – Amanda Holland (Professional Education, Learning and Development Lead, iHV) and Marian Judd (Health Visitor and Practice Lead, Wiltshire Child and Family Wellbeing Service, HCRG Care Group).

With a fantastic line up of speakers:

Dr Michelle Moseley, Director of Programmes, iHV
Lynne Reed, Deputy Director, 0-19 Clinical Programmes Unit, Chief Public Health Nurse Directorate, Director General Office, Global and Public Health Group, Office of Health Improvement and Disparities
Wendy Fowler, Nurse Education Advisor, Nursing and Midwifery Council
Dr Colleen Ryan, Head of Professional Practice, School of Nursing and Midwifery and Social Care, CQ University, Australia

From Swindon Borough Council’s 0-19 Public Health Nursing Service, England:

Betheny Oakes, Professional Lead for Practice Education
Clare Miles, School Nurse Team Lead England
Bree Lucas, Newly Qualified School Nurse

From Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Wales:

Ceri Hughes, Service Manager Health Visiting, School Nursing, Children Looked After and Paediatric Continence
Donna Dobson, Practice Development and Clinical Lead
Melanie Roberts, Newly Qualified Health Visitor

From Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland:

Barbara Keenan, Clinical Educator for Health Visiting
Jade McMurray, Newly Qualified Health Visitor

From Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Partnership, Scotland:

Tania Ferguson, Health Visitor and Team Lead
Danielle Matthewson Newly Qualified Health Visitor

Registration is now open

All those involved in supporting and providing preceptorship —whether seasoned professionals or newly qualified practitioners—are warmly invited to join the celebration.

Book your place today

Podcast

Tune In Before You Join Us! Listen to our new Podcast episode on Preceptorship

Listen to our special podcast exploring the value of preceptorship where Amanda Holland, iHV’s Professional Education, Learning and Development Lead is joined by colleagues from Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland – Newly Qualified Health Visitor Jade McMurray, Barbara Keenan, Clinical Educator for Health Visiting and Caroline Burnside, Health Visitor and Practice Teacher.
Jade, Barbara and Caroline share their insights and lived experiences around the impact of preceptorship and how the iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting is supporting preceptorship arrangements.

New framework to support high-quality services for CYP with cerebral palsy

This month, NHS England has published its long-awaited Commissioning framework for children and young people with cerebral palsy. The framework provides a blueprint for high-quality integrated services to improve early identification, assessment and intervention which can significantly improve outcomes for babies, children and young people with cerebral palsy.

The Institute of Health Visiting has been actively involved in national groups and All Party Parliamentary Groups calling for measurable improvements to be made to services. We are therefore delighted to see this framework published – it represents an important milestone in bringing together a united vision for service improvements, supported by leading clinicians and the voices and views of families, underpinned by the latest evidence and NICE guidance.

Health visitors have been identified as having a key role to play in improving joined-up support for families. And we encourage health visiting practitioners, service providers and commissioners to work with their local Integrated Care Boards to support the successful implementation of this framework.

While this framework focuses on children and young people with cerebral palsy, it is hoped that learning from developing and implementing this framework could be extended to address broader conditions, including neurodevelopmental needs and care requirements of children and young people with other complex conditions and disabilities.

To support ICBs to improve care, NHS England has worked with key stakeholder organisations, including children and young people and their families and carers, to ensure that the recommendations made within the framework align with their feedback.

Background to the framework – why focus on cerebral palsy?

Cerebral palsy is the most common childhood onset disorder of movement and posture. As a chronic condition, the challenges remain throughout adult life. There is a clear imperative to improve healthcare for children and young people with cerebral palsy. Services are currently fractured, complex to navigate, and often uncoordinated. Many children are diagnosed late and miss out on vital support that can improve their development and health outcomes – any delay in identification and treatment can worsen life-long function, increase secondary complications, and decrease clinical wellbeing. It can also lead to the need for more invasive orthopaedic interventions later in childhood, requiring costly prolonged admission and rehabilitation. As a direct result of delayed assessment and intervention, children and young people and adults with cerebral palsy often experience diminished participation and quality of life.

Improving healthcare and outcomes for children and young people with cerebral palsy will require a whole system response and ICBs should collaborate to provide various services within their local area or through partnerships with key regional stakeholders. The framework sets out suggested services and professionals who will need to work together to implement the framework and ensure effective collaboration.

Spotlight on the role of health visitors:

Health visitors have a key role to play in early identification of infants at risk, or with “red flags”, of cerebral palsy to support early diagnosis and intervention. Health visitors also have a key role in connecting families to other services and specialist teams, brokering their engagement, and supporting families to navigate the numerous challenges that they often face when trying to access the care they need.

The framework identifies the need for comprehensive training and education programmes, with specific areas of focus to include:

co-ordinating training for the follow-up of high-risk infants post-special care baby unit
developmental follow-up of all children by health visitors and general practice staff
health visitors should be trained to spot the early warning signs (“red flags” in NICE guideline – NG62)
the involvement of community paediatricians
local pathways for initiating referrals and assessments, emphasising the importance of supporting children and young people with cerebral palsy and their parents and families
supporting early intervention – primary care teams, GPs and health visitors to provide universal care.

Next steps:

NHS England is working with a number of volunteer ICBs to baseline and assess their current service provision, using a short list of metrics and the framework as a benchmark for standard of care. Alongside this, they are working with clinicians from the key professional bodies involved to reflect on and assess their clinical best practice. This includes but is not limited to: British Paediatric Neurology Association, British Academy of Childhood Disability, British Association of Community Child Health, and the Institute of Health Visiting.

Coming soon – iHV training and resources for health visiting teams: The iHV has been working with leading paediatricians and experts in motor development and neurodisability to develop a “Motor Development Toolkit” for health visiting and bespoke training which incorporates the key recommendations outlined in this framework. Our resources and training are due to be launched at the end of June. Look out for further details on our website and via social media – or contact us at [email protected] to discuss your workforce CPD needs.

Read the Commissioning framework for children and young people with cerebral palsy here

New Royal Foundation Shaping Us Framework and film: prioritising social and emotional development

The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood has today (2 February 2025) published a new framework aimed at improving awareness of and knowledge about social and emotional skills to inspire action across society, as part of The Princess of Wales’ mission to create a happier, healthier society.

At the iHV, we feel honoured to have been involved in supporting the promotion of The Shaping Us Framework and believe that it will be an invaluable resource for health visiting practitioners.

Alongside the Framework, The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood has also launched a short film to bring the Framework to life which features our CEO, Alison Morton, speaking about the importance of social and emotional development in early childhood. And we thank the wonderful health visiting team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust for their support with this, and the parents, babies and children from South London who agreed to take part in the film – they were brilliant and bring the powerful messages to life.

Social and emotional skills are what shape who we are, how we manage our emotions and thoughts, how we communicate with and relate to others, and how we explore the world around us. They are fundamental to our future mental and physical wellbeing, shaping everything from our ability to form positive relationships, to our capacity for learning, working, and coping with adversity. They all have their foundations in early childhood and continue to be refined and enhanced throughout our lives.

In the foreword to today’s report, The Princess of Wales said:

“To create a physically and mentally healthier society, we must reset, restore, and rebalance…

“That means taking a profound look at ourselves and our own behaviours, emotions, and feelings. It means getting much better at acting with compassion and empathy towards one another… better understanding how we can protect and build upon what connects and unites us… and acknowledging that society is something we build together, through the actions we take every day.

“At the heart of all of this is the need for us to develop and nurture a set of social and emotional skills which we must prioritise if we are to thrive.”

The new Shaping Us Framework and film: prioritising social and emotional development, comprises thirty social and emotional skills grouped into six clusters:

knowing ourselves
managing our emotions
focusing our thoughts
communication with others
nurturing our relationships
and exploring the world.

These skills are the foundations of a happy, healthy life. The Framework has been developed to help those working across disciplines to communicate effectively, raise awareness, and build understanding of the critical importance of social and emotional skills – inspiring greater commitment, action and investment in their development during early childhood and beyond. The Framework can also have a tangible impact across society by being used to design and deliver programmes and interventions, to inform decision-making and support organisational development. It is by prioritising and nurturing our social and emotional skills, and our relationships with others, within communities and across society, that we can build resilience and hope for the future.

Christian Guy, Executive Director of The Centre for Early Childhood, said:

“It is time that we recognised and acted upon the undeniable significance of social and emotional skills and give them the recognition they deserve. Getting this right in early childhood, when we lay the foundations upon which these skills continue to grow throughout our lives – could have a truly profound impact on the future of individuals and of our society.”

Alison Morton, iHV CEO, said:

“This Framework is ground breaking, bringing together evidence from across the world on the importance of social and emotional development. As a resource, it has the potential to really transform how we value and nurture these skills throughout the life course. If we can support babies and young children in their learning and development in the earliest years of life, we set them up with valuable tools to navigate the ups and downs of life. Ultimately, they are the most important skills that we will ever learn – and health visiting practitioners can play a vital role in spreading the word and driving change.”

See The Shaping Us Framework here

Watch the Video - The Shaping Us Framework

iHV launches new iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is delighted to publish the new iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting.

Developed to recognise the higher levels of autonomy and specialist knowledge and skills that health visitors require, beyond their first level registration as registered nurses and registered midwives, this much-needed resource will support best practice for preceptorship programmes for health visitors across the UK.

Newly qualified health visitors represent the future of the profession and are highly valued. It is vital that they are welcomed into the workplace with the right individualised support to enable them to grow and flourish. The provision of high-quality preceptorship for health visitors prepares and enables their leadership development and ongoing practice-based learning – this supports the essential delivery of safe and effective care which contributes to reducing inequalities and improving outcomes for babies, children, families and communities.

Currently, many health visiting services across the UK are experiencing significant shortages and attrition in the health visiting workforce. With challenges to recruitment and retention, health visiting services are looking for ways to reduce the disruption and financial costs of a high staff turnover. The provision of high-quality preceptorship for health visitors is key to attracting and sustaining a highly skilled health visiting workforce.

The iHV UK Preceptorship Framework will complement other relevant country-specific legislation, statutory requirements, organisational policies and procedures for preceptorship for health visiting and keep best practice in mind. We recommend all organisations employing health visitors implement this new Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting.

Amanda Holland – Professional Services Lead, Institute of Health Visiting and Author of the iHV Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting, commented:

“In the current climate, with many organisations experiencing significant challenges to recruitment and retention of a highly skilled health visiting workforce, we know high-quality effective preceptorship can be an important part of the solution. Supporting and enabling newly qualified health visitors to lay strong foundations from the beginning of their career is vital to enable them to grow and thrive and achieve their professional aspiration throughout the preceptorship period and beyond. Enabling a good learning environment, where the preceptee is at the centre of preceptorship, and wellbeing and psychological safety is prioritised is key to success.

“It has been a privilege to lead this project to co-develop an iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visitors and work with a vast group of passionate and dedicated experts and stakeholders from across the UK.”

Marian Judd – Health Visitor and Practice Lead, HCRG Care Group, B&NES and Wiltshire Children’s Community Services, England and Co-Chair of the iHV Practice Education Network, said:

“The new iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting is the fruit of a UK-wide collaboration that has been inspiring and motivating. Its aim and hope is to offer organisations, which employ health visitors from all four nations, a Framework that is preceptee-led, relevant and adaptable to enable new health visitors to embed the NMC Code and NMC 2022 Standards of proficiency for specialist community public health nurse health visitors, evolve into confident practitioners, and thrive to make a difference for babies, children and families.

“This was a wonderful opportunity to co-author this Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting which stemmed from my contribution to the iHV Practice Education Network (PEN) as co-chair. This partnership with iHV continues to inspire and develop my passion for health visitor education alongside my lead role in B&NES and Wiltshire. Leading practice education has been a consistent theme throughout my health visiting career, from one-to-one student support to developing effective learning environments working collaboratively with the Higher Education Institutions in the South and South West of England, local teams and the iHV.”

The iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting provides:

A Preceptorship Framework to support best practice for preceptorship programmes for health visitors
A valuable overview of the research, evidence and policy on preceptorship
Practical guidance including:
- the key ingredients of an effective preceptorship programme
- the iHV Preceptorship Gradient of Growing, Embedding and Thriving (GET)
- the iHV Hierarchy of Learning Needs
- examples of outputs and outcomes of a preceptorship programme
A Framework for implementation and quality assurance in practice

Alison Morton – CEO, Institute of Health Visiting, added:

“I fully support the aims of this much-needed iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting to facilitate a consistent, personalised approach to preceptorship for every health visitor. The iHV seeks to achieve consensus with organisations employing health visitors actively supporting the Preceptorship Framework and ‘signing up’ to use the Framework in developing locally-agreed programmes, as part of their organisation’s quality strategy.”

The iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visitors has been developed through an extensive collaborative process with a wide range of experts and stakeholders from all four nations of the UK – iHV extends huge thanks to them for their expertise, guidance and support during this process.

View iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting

Please use this link to cite the iHV UK Preceptorship Framework for Health Visiting – https://bit.ly/3ATKD7x

Open pdf to read quotes below

Scottish Government publishes updated National Framework for Child Protection Learning and Development

On 1 March 2024, the Scottish Government published its updated version of the National Framework for Child Protection Learning and Development which will be relevant to health visitors working in Scotland.

This updated Framework replaces the previous version, published in 2012 to support the design and delivery of child protection learning and development. It provides a resource for all learning and development relevant to child protection, regardless of which agency practitioners work in and can be used flexibly and alongside single agency frameworks for learning to emphasise the key themes of the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 – updated 2023 .

The longstanding key message is that safeguarding is ‘Still Everyone’s Job’. All practitioners have a responsibility to remain aware of changes to legislation, policy and practice that impact on how frontline services should respond. The updated Framework incorporates recent legislation and several key policy documents:

The National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 – updated 2023 (NGCP2023) highlighted important themes for practice, and these will be key to updating all learning and development resources within the ‘Getting it right for every child’ (GIRFEC) continuum – wellbeing to welfare to protection – supporting a proactive, preventative approach to practice. Key themes are:

rights-based approach (supporting and embracing UNCRC)
needs-led/strengths-based approach (supporting relationship-based practice)
trauma-informed/enhanced practice (supporting understanding of childhood adversity and trauma)
holistic assessment (supporting strengths/resilience, identifying risk/concerns within a child’s experiences)
recognising diversity and inclusion (supporting sensitivity of language, culture and communication differences).

The Framework aims to provide a resource which clarifies child protection learning needed at four levels – “Wider Workforce, General Workforce, Specific Workforce, and Intensive Workforce”, to:

promote collaborative multi-agency practice to support children’s wellbeing, welfare and protection
support the multi-agency task of assessing, managing and addressing identified need or risk to children, young people or parents/carers
provide a multi-agency learning and development framework adaptable for local learning and development strategies and evaluation
contribute to best practice through the development of a competent and confident workforce
support the design, implementation and evaluation of multi-agency child protection learning
establish agreed competencies, identifying the relevant knowledge and skills required, according to the roles and responsibilities of the various groups that make up multi-agency workforces, including those likely to encounter children, young people and their families as part of their day-to-day work
emphasise the importance of shared learning and collaborative practice to achieve better outcomes for children

Read the revised Framework in full here

Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework Evaluation

Have you used or looked at the Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework (PHSKF)?

If so, please could you complete this short online evaluation that is being conducted for Public Health England on behalf of the four UK nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

The aim is to evaluate Public Health England’s redesigned 2016 PHSKF to determine its impact on the public health workforce and their employers, and its utility.

The survey should take no more than about ten minutes to complete.

The deadline for submission of survey is 8 March 2019.

Go to Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework Evaluation survey

New report from The Communication Trust

Professional development in speech, language and communication – new report from The Communication Trust.

Last summer, more than 1200 members of the children and young people’s workforce, including many health visitors, responded to a survey from The Communication Trust, which asked about their experiences of professional development in speech, language and communication (SLC). Their responses revealed that, although they were nearly unanimous in their belief in the vital importance of children’s SLC skills, there were significant gaps in their professional development in this area. The majority (53%) reported that they had had little to no initial training in typical speech, language and communication development, and 60% had little to no training in identifying and supporting children with speech, language and communication needs.

In England, there are likely to be at least two children in every primary school classroom with a clinically significant language disorder, and many more with delayed language development. The Communication Trust, in partnership with their consortium, works to maximise the impact of the voluntary sector and collaborate with government to devise effective solutions to improve the support that is provided to children and young people.

The Communication Trust has produced a report presenting the findings of their consultation with the workforce and offering recommendations to government and national bodies, local authorities and commissioners, the voluntary sector and training providers, and the workforce and service providers. Their recommendations were developed in consultation with their consortium and other key sector, practitioner, and academic partners.

Download Communication Trust survey report

Speech, Language and Communication Framework (SLCF)

The Communication Trust works to support the workforce in enabling all the children and young people they work with to communicate to the best of their ability through resources such as the newly updated and improved Speech, Language and Communication Framework (SLCF). The SLCF is a free online professional development tool which sets out the skills and knowledge that everyone working with children and young people need in order to support the speech, language and communication development of those they work with. The SLCF self-evaluation tool enables individuals and groups of practitioners to highlight their professional development needs and to find training, resources or information to ‘fill the gaps’ identified by the SLCF.

Find out more about the SLCF

If you have any queries on this, please contact [email protected]

iHV welcomes new HEE Guidance on Specialist Health Visitors in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health

The Institute of Health Visiting warmly welcomes the new commissioning and workforce development guidance on Specialist Health Visitors in Perinatal and Infant Mental health (PIMH) – What they do and why they matter, published today by Health Education England (HEE). It concludes that all women and their partners should have access to a specialist health visitor in perinatal and infant mental health (PIMH) and recommends at least one for every health visiting service.

Creating Specialist Health Visitor posts in PIMH within every health visiting service will play a valuable part in reducing the incidence and impact of postnatal depression and other perinatal mental health problems. This will be through earlier diagnosis, better intervention and support – creating savings on child and adult mental health services, and improved public health.

Dr Cheryll Adams, Executive Director of the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), said:

“The iHV is delighted to endorse this new guidance which provides a framework for improvements in the services that health visitors can provide to families to promote their mental health.

“Through the health visiting ‘universal’ service, health visitors are well-placed to identify those families requiring additional support, especially where the mother (or indeed father) may be suffering from perinatal mental illness, or where the bond between parent and baby may be compromised. However, health visitors have many other roles and responsibilities taking their time during this important period of every child’s life and they would benefit from specialist support in this challenging arena.”

The framework sets out the important role of specialist health visitors in PIMH, illustrates the value to parents and other health professionals involved in a mother’s care and recommends that every woman should have access to a specialist Health Visitor as part of the multi-disciplinary team.

Read the full press release