New report launched: An audit of practice education infrastructure for SCPHN in Greater London

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) and London NHS England Workforce Training and Education Directorate (NHSE WTED) launch a new report: An audit of practice education infrastructure for Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (SCPHN) in Greater London.

iHV was delighted to be awarded funding by NHSE WTED to complete an audit of practice education infrastructure for SCPHN in Greater London.

Numbers of SCPHN health visitors and school nurses have decreased by more than 40% in England and London is one of the hardest hit areas[1]. To address workforce expansion needs, the London SCPHN workforce was offered a range of training and educational programmes to support practitioner professional development and growth of a learning culture. Reversing workforce shortfalls requires action to expand and improve training opportunities. Specifically, SCPHN workforce education infrastructure was identified as an important factor which could impact on the sustainable expansion of SCPHN Student community placements across all London 0-19 provider organisations.

The iHV completed an audit of practice education infrastructure at two separate time points – when the training was introduced and 6 months later. The audits explored whether targeted investments in practitioner development had been matched with an upturn in the organisational learning culture and infrastructure to support learning. The audit questions were framed using the four levels of learning (reaction, learning, behaviour, results) from the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model[2].

Key findings from the audit included:

Improvements were seen in the learning environment across the duration of the project.
There is evidence to suggest that the education infrastructure and learning culture within London has been strengthened with:
- Practitioners reporting greater use of learning in practice over time
- Examples of perceived ability to provide better care
- Improved professional development
- Improved job satisfaction
- An improved learning environment.
Factors considered important to support learning in practice included:
- Supervision and a supportive learning environment
- Embedding learning for impact
- Improved time and capacity for practitioners to participate in Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

Our findings have been presented in a report and summarised into two engaging infographics. Whilst this audit has provided information on the unique context of the SCPHN workforce in London, it is also hoped that the findings will provide transferable learning to SCPHN providers across the UK who may be experiencing similar workforce issues.

You can view the report and infographics here
(to cite this report, please use this link https://bit.ly/3Y4rw3E).

The Audit for Education project forms part of a wider commissioned piece of work with London NHSE WTED which includes the student SCPHN recruitment pathway development review and a charter for enabling a good learning environment.

Nicky Brown, Senior Nurse for CYP OHID London, said:

“It has been such a pleasure working within the London system to develop the role of specialist public health nurses and their teams. This project has enabled London’s 0-19 Public Health Nursing workforce to explore areas of development in their own practice and the way they learn and teach others. It is hoped that this project is the beginning of an integrated approach to learning and development for all qualified health visitors and school nurses and their teams across London.”.

Caroline Ward, Clinical Workforce Transformation Manager – Maternity and Neonates, Children and Young People, Public Health and Community Nursing and Return to Practice, said:

“I am so pleased that I was able to achieve funding through legacy HEE to support such a vital piece of work. A well-trained and sustainable specialist community public health nursing workforce supply is vital to improving the health and wellbeing of our children, young people and families in London. Working with our London systems and service providers is key to the project’s philosophy to enable those who recognise the huge workforce challenges to be supported to work together with us to find solutions and ultimately make a difference within London and beyond.”

Jenny Gilmour, Lead for NHSE WTE London Improving SCPHN (HV/SN) Education Infrastructure and SCPHN Student Expansion Project, said:

“It has been a pleasure to work with the iHV to lead on the Audit of Education as evaluation of this important opportunity to invest in improving the SCPHN Education Infrastructure across London. The report evaluates the impact of the initiative within the current SCPHN workforce. And these results are positive, as evidence suggests that the current workforce, despite the very real pressures of achieving service delivery, has risen to the challenge. As a result, the SCPHN workforce has been prepared, and is ready and able to improve the quality of SCPHN student placements, as well as support expansion across London 0-19 Provider Organisations over the next few years as required under the NHS Long Term Workforce plans.”

Georgina Mayes – iHV Health Visiting Professional Lead (Quality and Policy) said:

“I was delighted to lead on this very important project which has the experiences of London SCPHN practitioners at its heart. SCPHN workforce shortages are of national concern and this project showcases how increasing and improving training opportunities can support professional development and growth of a learning culture which in turn can address SCPHN workforce expansion needs. I’m excited to see how our recommendations will be translated into practice.”

We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to London NHS England Workforce Training and Education Directorate (NHSE WTED) for their generous funding of this project, and to OHID London and the Chief Public Health Nursing Directorate (DHSC) for their professional advice. We would also like to thank the survey respondents, co-design workshop participants for generously sharing their experiences and insights with us, and to members of the iHV Health Visiting Advisory Forum (HVAF) who tested the audit survey.

Download report: An audit of practice education infrastructure for Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (SCPHN) in Greater London

(to cite this report, please use this link https://bit.ly/3Y4rw3E).

References

[1]NHS Digital Source: NHS Digital. NHS Hospital & Community Health Service (HCHS) monthly workforce statistics October 2023. 2024. [accessed 23 April 2024]. Available from: https://bit.ly/3JUw3h6

[2] Kirkpatrick Partners (2024) Demonstrate Training Effectiveness with The Kirkpatrick Model. 2024. [accessed 23 April 2024]. Available from: https://bit.ly/44wd5H6

QNI Standards for Practice Teaching

The iHV is delighted to see publication of Standards for Practice Teaching for Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (SCPHN) and Specialist Practice Qualification (SPQ) in Community Nursing by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI). The iHV has been part of the Expert Advisory Group and worked with the QNI from the inception of the project that has led to this most welcome publication. This included supporting the co-production of the Standards through our engagement with iHV members at iHV Networking Events for students and educators.

In recent years, our iHV members and others have raised their concerns about a lack of consistency in how health visitors are prepared and how the vital role of practice-based learning, teaching, assessment of students undertaking SCPHN programmes is supported and recognised. The QNI’s new standards set an objective benchmark for what ‘good’ looks like and will support all partners in education to develop programmes of preparation for Practice Teachers. The alignment of the standards with the Health Education England ‘four pillars’ of Advanced Practice spell out the advanced level of practice required to combine education and practice to develop a workforce. They also provide a sound basis for those working towards recognised Advanced Practitioner roles. In particular, meeting the QNI standards will enable partners to demonstrate:

how they go about meeting and exceeding NMC Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment applied to SCPHN / SPQ programmes, and
how they realise the ambition of the new NMC Standards of Proficiency for SCPHN and associated programme standards
a commitment to standards of practice that recognise, value and support the vital and challenging role of practice teaching at an advanced level.

Fabulous day at Health for All Children Now Conference #iHVConf19

Wow – what an amazing and packed day we had yesterday at the iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference 2019: Health for All Children Now. Sold out a few weeks ago, we had a full house – 300 people including delegates, exhibitors and speakers!

Held on Thursday 9 May 2019 at King’s House Conference Centre, Manchester, it was the must-attend event in 2019 for those interested in evidence-based infant and family public health and health visiting to come together to hear the latest guidance and recommendations included in the newly-published fifth edition of Health for All Children.

With 4 concurrent sessions running during the morning and another 4 concurrent sessions in the afternoon, in addition to the morning and afternoon plenary sessions, there was plenty for the delegates to listen to and learn about.

See the conference programme

Photos of the conference

We have made a short video of some of the photos taken during the conference:

Tweets from #iHVConf19

For those of you who could not either join us yesterday or could not follow the #iHVConf19 hashtag on Twitter, we’ve collected and made a little “Wakelet” collection of the day’s tweets so you can follow some of what was shared. Please see below.

5 days left to submit your abstract

We’ve received some great abstracts already – why not send in an abstract yourself?

With only 5 days for you to submit your abstract, time is short!

Gain the opportunity to present your innovation, practice development or research at our evidence-based conference on 7 March 2018 in Manchester – with exciting prizes for best poster/presentation.

Abstract submission deadline is Wednesday 24 January – so don’t miss out!

With the conference focused on giving every child The Best Start in Life, abstracts will be considered on the following key areas:

Health visitor prescribing
Role of health visitors in immunisation
Childhood nutrition
Oral health and sugar reduction
Getting families active
Atopic conditions in early childhood
Early identification of childhood disorders
Speech, language and communication delay
Non-specific learning difficulties
Safeguarding for The Best Start in Life
Domestic Violence
Sleep
Working with couple relationships

Abstract Submission and Timeline

Please submit your abstract as a Microsoft Word document to [email protected]. The abstract should be no more than 250 words and provide an overview of your innovation, practice development or research, clearly indicating the impact on supporting “A Best Start in Life for all children.”

24 January 2018 – Abstract submission deadline
24 January – 7 February – iHV peer-review process on subsmissions
7 February 2018 – participants informed of acceptance of abstracts for either oral poster presentation or a poster. Full guidance on the poster format and oral presentation 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.

Earlybird tickets (for members and non-members) are available until 11 February 2018, so don’t miss them!

For more conference details and to book your place

Bookings now open for iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference 2018!

Bookings are now open, with member discounts and early bird rates, for the iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference – promoting “The Best Start in Life” – taking place in Manchester on 7 March 2018.

We always seek to ensure our activities comply with the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative – our events are not and never will be sponsored by the formula milk industry.

This conference provides an excellent opportunity for health visitors, practice educators, SCPHN lecturers, early years workers and student health visitors to develop their role in supporting the “Best Start in Life” for all children.

It will be of interest to colleagues from the international community who are working within this arena. It provides a unique opportunity for an intense day of accredited CPD that is perfect towards revalidation and furthering the positive impact of your practice.

The iHV has gathered national speakers to provide practice-related updates from the latest research evidence, specialist practice, NICE guidance and beyond. There will also be papers and posters from health visitor peers, and academics sharing their recent research and innovation.

Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to attend the iHV’s Evidence-based Practice Conference.

Delegate fees:

Conference rate includes full attendance at the conference and includes all refreshments, lunch and delegate materials.

	Early bird rate (until midnight 11 February 2018)	Standard rate (from 12 February 2018)
iHV members	£95	£125
Non-members	£125	£155

Book your place at iHV evidence-based practice conference – promoting “The Best Start in Life”

Excellent day at ‘Mastering evidence-based practice in health visiting’ conference

Two hundred delegates convened at Conference Aston in Birmingham on 7 March 2017 to attend the ‘Mastering evidence-based practice in health visiting’ conference. It was an evidence-packed day – full of information to take back to practice.

Fantastic feedback and comments included:

Great chance to meet up with friends old and new

Inspiring positive practice examples

Exciting, evidence-packed day

Great buzz in the room

Loads to learn and take back to practice

Informative day

Thought-provoking day

Excellent

‘Seeing what a fantastic professional, efficient and dynamic organisation the institute is’

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE welcoming the delegates to the Mastering evidence-based practice in health visiting conference

Dr Dougal Hargreaves sharing the RCPCH State of Child Health Report 2017 at the Mastering evidence-based practice in health visiting conference

200 delegates taking part in a panel Q&A session at ‘Mastering evidence-based practice in health visiting’ conference

Storify summary of tweets from the day

We have collated the numerous tweets shared during the event – and put them into a Storify for you to review.

Follow the day's events through shared tweets

Marketplace at evidence-based practice in health visiting' conference

Marketplace at ‘Mastering evidence-based practice in health visiting’ conference

A masterclass at evidence-based practice in health visiting' conference

A masterclass at ‘Mastering evidence-based practice in health visiting’ conference

Another masterclass at evidence-based practice in health visiting' conference

Another masterclass at ‘Mastering evidence-based practice in health visiting’ conference

Panel Q&A session with (from left), Professor Louise Condon, Professor Sally Kendall and Dr Karen Whittaker

Two new iHV practice guidance documents on safeguarding

We are delighted to share two new practice guidance documents around safeguarding with our members.

These documents can be found in the members-only A-Z Resource Library under Safeguarding and also the members-only Professional Guidance section.

Safeguarding (1): Serious Case Reviews: messages for health visiting practice

This iHV practice guidance draws on the action plans that were generated by the participants of the iHV Safeguarding and Child Protection experts’ programme and outlines the top 20 messages for health visiting practice.

Safeguarding (2): Information sharing in safeguarding children

This practice guidance will help to support health visitors in the timely, appropriate and proportionate sharing of information in safeguarding children in line with legislation, government guidance and professional regulation. Good practice in information sharing is fundamental to safeguarding children and adults who are at risk of, or suffering from, significant harm.

Go to Safeguarding resources page

Please note that these guidance documents 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!

New toolkit for measuring outcomes and impact in health visiting practice

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is delighted to announce the publication of a toolkit during #HVweek to support the measurement of outcomes in health visiting – it aims to support health visitor service leads in developing outcome measures for their local health visiting service.

There is a growing body of evidence which demonstrates that health visitors can have a positive outcome on health improvement (Cowley et al, 2013).

Health visitors are keen to show the impact of their work in early intervention, health promotion, and the prevention of ill health in children and families. But how can this impact be measured? What outcomes are needed?

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE., Executive Director, iHV, said:

“Since the completion of the Department of Health’s Health Visitor implementation plan ‘A Call to Action’ to transform health visiting services, there has been an increased emphasis on the need to measure the impact and effectiveness of the transformed health visiting services in England.”

Health visiting services collect data for key performance indicators as described in the National Health Visiting Core Service Specification (NHS England, 2014). These indicators mainly focus on the number of core contacts achieved, but this does not accurately reflect the depth and breadth of health visiting activity, nor does it describe the outcomes for children and families.

Dr Adams continued:

“There is now renewed pressure to demonstrate outcomes of health visiting services with the recent transfer from NHS to Local Authority Commissioning. Local commissioners are developing their understanding of the health visitor role and how the service contributes to local and national public health outcomes, the local early years strategy and broader social, economic and fiscal outcomes. Health visitors must therefore develop and gather information which is relevant to their practice and which captures the impact of health visiting interventions on health outcomes.”

This new toolkit, written by Ruth Hudson, Professional Officer, iHV, is broken down into six sections to explore both outcomes and evaluation in health visiting. The Practical Guide forms the introduction and background, followed by 5 sections for readers who may prefer to concentrate on a specific topic or aspect of evaluation:

Outcomes and Evaluation in Health Visiting: A Practical Guide
1. Section 1: Research and Outcomes for Children and Families
2. Section 2: Evaluation Guides and Models for use in practice
3. Section 3: National Outcomes Frameworks, Tools and Resources
4. Section 4: Outcomes in Health Visiting Practice
5. Section 5: Presenting Information on Outcomes: Using Case Studies and Scale Measures in Practice

Download the practical guide introduction

To access Outcomes Toolkit Sections 1-5