Tags: outcomes

iHV welcomes new UNICEF report calling for more health visitors

UNICEF UK has undertaken new analysis which demonstrates that where children grow up has a significant impact on their early outcomes, with inequalities in health and developmental outcomes entrenched in the first few years of life. Key findings include:

  • Every Local Authority in the top 20% for deprivation is in the bottom 20% for multiple measures of child health and development.
  • The most deprived quintile of LAs are more than twice as far away from meeting the Government’s target for 75% children to reach a good level of development than the most affluent areas.
  • Five-year-olds in the most deprived LAs are three times more likely to have teeth removed due to decay than those in the most affluent areas.
  • Obesity rates for five-year-olds are twice as high in the most deprived areas than in the most affluent areas.
  • Babies and young children in the most deprived areas have 55% more visits to A&E than those in the least deprived areas.

While the school-based measures the Government has announced are welcome, this analysis demonstrates that inequalities are already well established by the age of five. Ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, UNICEF UK is therefore calling on the Government to urgently address the links between deprivation, poverty and developmental outcomes within the earliest years by:

  • Removing the two-child limit and benefit cap
  • Restoring investment in essential early childhood health and support services

The Institute of Health Visiting is delighted to see that the second recommendation includes a call on the Government to increase investment in health visiting. This includes adding their weight of support to the iHV policy recommendation to rebuild the health visiting workforce by recruiting an additional 1,000 health visitors a year over the spending review period. Health visiting is highlighted throughout the report as a crucial service which has an important role to play for all babies and young children, but which can be particularly valuable for babies and families experiencing poverty, as provision can help mitigate against the impact of poverty on early outcomes. We are delighted that UNICEF references our iHV State of Health Visiting reports in this new report.

Read UNICEK UK report - Held back from the start: the impact of deprivation on early childhood

See UNICEF UK Deprivation Heat Maps

Health Visitors: for every family – Launch of new, short film

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), working together with parents and Solent NHS Trust, is delighted to share a short film to highlight the value and breadth of the role of the health visitor in relation to family mental health and wellbeing outcomes.

Produced as part of the Interreg 2Seas PATH project*, the film raises the profile of the universal UK health visiting programme, where every family has access to a highly skilled and well-trained health visitor. It showcases the unique opportunity and skills that health visitors have to build relationships and the support that health visitors can offer where additional concerns about parental mental health or the parent-infant relationship are identified.

Created to appeal to parents, health and social care practitioners, government policymakers and commissioners, the film offers insights into a ‘day in the life’ of a UK health visitor, demonstrating the impact of open, trusting relationships and highlighting the importance of continuity of health visitor in building a sense of partnership with parents and families.

Melita Graham, Head of Mental Health at the Institute of Health Visiting, said:

“Supporting the emotional and social, as well as the physical health and wellbeing of the whole family during the perinatal period is a priority for all UK health visitors. We hope that this film will raise awareness of the potential that health visiting has for improving every family’s health and wellbeing.

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Whalebone Films, Solent NHS Trust and particularly the parents and families involved in supporting the creation of this film.”

Claire Robinson, Clinical Director for Child and Family Services, Solent NHS Trust, said:

“We are so pleased to be involved in this film which importantly showcases the breadth of skill and knowledge that our health visitors like Sema use every day, in a personalised way for parents and families in our communities. We are really proud of the profound and positive impact that health visitors make in supporting parents and their children in a variety of ways including physical health, early attachment and development, mental health and wellbeing, and practical aspects of parenting, whilst creating meaningful relationships that are so important to both our service and service users.”

 

The film is relevant for health visitors across the UK, and you can use it to promote the work that you do – so please do use and share it.

Link to short film - Health Visitors: for every family

 

* PATH – PerinAtal menTal Health – is part of the Interreg VA 2Seas programme funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The iHV is one of several partner organisations from across the UK, the Netherlands, France, and Belgium working together to enable women, families, and healthcare professionals to prevent, recognise and successfully manage mild and moderate perinatal mental illness.

PATH seeks to promote positive parenting experiences and empower parents to feel confident in accessing self-help, professional support and guidance from employers, leading to happier and healthier families. Find out more about PATH: https://path-perinatal.eu/uk/ 

iHV responds to House of Lords ‘Children in Crisis’ report

iHV responds to the House of Lords’ Public Services Select Committee report published today into how public services support children and families – Children in crisis: the role of public services in overcoming child vulnerability.

Baroness Armstrong of Hill, Chair of the Select Committee, reports:

“We found a crisis in child vulnerability. Over a million children are now growing up with reduced life chances, too many ending up in care, too many with poor health outcomes… The crisis has grown worse during the pandemic, but it’s been building for many years, partly due to large cuts in early intervention funding.”

This important report is a stark reminder that underinvestment has created worse outcomes for children and higher costs for the taxpayer, as children slip through the gaps between services and do not get the support they need. The report includes clear recommendations for a national strategy for child vulnerability, and also recommends that ‘health visiting’ should be key partners in delivering Family Hub provision.

Responding to the report, Alison Morton, iHV Executive Director, said:

“Today’s hard hitting ‘Children in Crisis’ report lays bare the preventable suffering and misery that has been caused to our nation’s children whose needs have been largely overlooked.

“Cuts have consequences and the poorest children have been hit the hardest. It is time for the Government to prioritise children in their plans to ‘Build Back Better’, particularly babies and young children who have been overlooked the most.

“We call on the Government to make good their pledge to ‘rebuild health visiting’. Health visitors provide a vital infrastructure of support for all families, and a crucial safety-net, identifying vulnerable babies and young children.

“The Government say that they will maintain the Public Health Grant, but this is being maintained at a level that is too low to fund the number of health visitors needed to support all families and identify vulnerable babies and young children. Following years of cuts since 2015, there is now a national shortage of 5,000 health visitors in England and the profession faces its biggest workforce challenge in living memory. As a result, despite health visitors’ best efforts, the service is now so stretched that many families are not getting the support they need, and vulnerable babies and young children are being let down.

“Investment in health visiting is needed to provide the prevention and early intervention support to stop this growing tsunami of children in crisis. This cannot wait any longer – our nation’s children deserve better.”

Read today's report - Children in crisis: the role of public services in overcoming child vulnerability.

Fantastic Masterclasses open now for Associate member bookings

We are delighted to open bookings for our Associate members for 3 Masterclasses/Workshops.

This is a rare opportunity for health visitors to book their own place at an iHV-hosted training event with our own fabulous training team, who have been engaged in delivering these well-evaluated programmes across the UK on behalf of organisations who have commissioned us.

Bookings are open to Associates from today, with bookings being opened to non-members next week.  There are limited places available on each date, so don’t delay, book your member’s place today!

Bookings for non-members open on Monday 29 May with a special early bird rate available for only one week!

See more detail on Aims and Learning Outcomes for each programme by clicking on the individual event links above.

To book your place: click on the individual event links above.

For group bookings or any booking queries, please contact [email protected]

Revamped Outcomes and Evaluation Toolkit

We are delighted to announce that we have revamped the Outcomes and Evaluation Toolkit (published in September 2016) – bringing together all the sections of the toolkit into one, easy to use document.

The Outcomes and Evaluation Toolkit supports the measurement of outcomes in health visiting – to help health visitor service leads to develop outcome measures for their local health visiting service.

Go to Outcomes resource page

Please note that this Outcomes and Evalutation Toolkit is 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!

button small_200

 

PHE: Best start in life knowledge hub

Improving early years services from pregnancy to age 5

The new Best start in life knowledge hub from PHE brings together information and evidence in one place to help commissioners, providers and professionals in commissioning for better outcomes during pregnancy and in the early years.

It supports Public Health England’s national priority of ensuring every child has the best start in life: every woman experiencing a healthy pregnancy; every child ready to learn at 2; every child ready for school at 5; and a reduction in child obesity.

The hub provides easy access to key resources, including government policy, guidelines and guidance, reports, data, evidence summaries and examples of what works in practice. You can search or browse resources by topics such as healthy pregnancy; good health and development; healthy weight; speech, language and communication; relationships and resilience; and safe from harm.

The PHE Best Start knowledge hub is freely available here

iHV addresses Westminster Health Forum

Health visiting and the future for the Healthy Child Programme was the subject of a presentation by Dr Cheryll Adams, Executive Director of the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), at today’s Westminster Health Forum – Improving children and young people’s health outcomes: Integration, public health and policy priorities.

Dr Cheryll Adams addressing the Westminster Health Forum

Dr Cheryll Adams addressing the Westminster Health Forum

Held in Whitehall, London, delegates met to consider next steps for improving service delivery for children and young people, and the role of NHS England, Clinical Commissioning Groups and local authorities in promoting positive wellbeing.

There was also a discussion on the early impact of new funding for child and adolescent mental health services, and progress made by Public Health England in ensuring every child has the best start in life as one of seven priorities outlined in their five year strategy.