Children’s Commissioner launches The Big Ambition survey report

Today, the Children’s Commissioner has launched the results from her ‘Big Ambition’ survey. The survey, which engaged over 350,000 children, young people and adults, covered 10 themes of family, education, social care, youth work, online safety, health, safety from crime, jobs and skills, unaccompanied children seeking asylum, and thoughts on ‘a better world’.

The report details that just one in five children in England believe their views are important to the adults who run the country, while only 10% of teenagers believe they have the power to influence the issues they care about.

Findings from the survey show that this generation of children is engaged with the world, full of practical solutions and optimistic for their futures – but they are frustrated and disempowered because their experiences are rarely reflected in policy making. Children are keen to resolve the kinds of issues and worries that were previously unique to adults. They want to be asked what they think and their responses listened to, with action taken to affect change.

The survey also captured the voices of babies by asking parents to respond on their behalf and by engaging with organisations that advocate on their behalf. The iHV was delighted to be able to engage with the team at The Children’s Commissioner’s Office and to participate in roundtable discussions, presenting the views of thousands of health visitors who engage with millions of babies every year.

The Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza said:

“I want this paper to serve as a call to action, for whoever forms the next government, to decide now that they will commit all their energy and effort to improving the lives of children.

“The policies proposed in this paper draw directly on what children themselves told us. As such, they are ambitious. They would make the rights children are entitled to a reality and provide a positive vision for what childhood could be like if only it were reimagined through the eyes of children.

“Children don’t feel the need to debate why it will be beneficial in the long term to ensure that every family has sufficient financial capacity to support their children. They simply state that no child should go hungry, because it is wrong. They do not talk in the language of targets, and they do not set the bar at what is simply easy to achieve. They speak in terms of fairness. Children believe that true inclusion means that no child is left out. As such, our policies are designed to improve the lives of all children.”

The Children’s Commissioner will shortly be publishing a cohesive and ambitious policy framework for the next government to improve children’s lives and to make the rights children are entitled to a reality. This will include a welcome recommendation for a joint children’s workforce strategy to ensure those working with children are caring, professional and equipped to do their jobs, and that there is a strong pipeline into senior leadership roles. And this includes a call to strengthen health visiting. The recommendation aims to ensure, “additional health visitors are recruited so that all babies and children receive their checks in person, regardless of where they live, and can access the ongoing support they need.”

iHV CEO, Alison Morton, joined the launch event in Parliament today. As supporters of #ChildrenAtTheTable, we back the @ChildrensComm call to action in #TheBigAmbition for the next government to commit to putting all their energy and effort towards improving the lives of children and young people. Read #ChildrenAtTheTable response to #TheBigAmbition: https://buff.ly/3IRParG

Go to The Big Ambition survey report

Teachers report that growing numbers of children are not “ready for school”

Findings from Kindred² “annual school readiness survey” were published today and report that more children in England and Wales are starting school without the basic skills needed to learn, leaving them disadvantaged from the start. The findings from this important survey provide a stark warning to policymakers, educationalists and practitioners working to give every child the best start in life, including health visitors.

To understand “school readiness” for children starting Reception last autumn, the early years charitable foundation Kindred² commissioned Savanta to conduct focus groups and survey over 1,000 teachers and 1,000 parents of Reception children:

More than three-quarters of teachers say they are spending more time supporting children who are not school ready.
1 in 4 children are starting school not toilet trained.
30% of children can’t communicate their needs to tell teachers if they are hungry or scared or need to go to the toilet. More than a third couldn’t dress themselves.
A quarter don’t have basic language skills.

According to the survey, nearly half (46%) of pupils are unable to sit still, 38% struggle to play or share with others, more than a third (37%) cannot dress themselves, 29% cannot eat or drink independently, and more than a quarter (28%) are using books incorrectly, swiping or tapping as though they were using a tablet.

Half of teachers say the problem is worse than last year and every child loses out as an estimated 2.5 hours of teacher time is lost each day; and 9 in 10 teachers say this impacts the rest of the class.

Schools say pressures are also affecting staff retention: almost half (47%) of the teachers in the survey said they are considering leaving their current role, and nearly a quarter (23%) plan on doing so in the next year.

49% of parents think that some children start school not ready because parents are unaware of the expectations of school readiness. The report also highlighted that “early help” was patchy with wide variation in the level of support that families received from a health visitor. More than one in five (22%) of parents had received no visits from a health visitor before their child started school, and the majority (63%) had two visits or fewer. 69% of school staff think parents need more guidance about child development milestones.

The full report includes comments from focus groups held with teachers and parents:

“Over the last 20 years… we’ve noticed a change in the children – the children at entry points from when they come into Reception are not as school ready as they were when I first started.” – Teacher

Felicity Gillespie, Director at Kindred², said:

“The shocking findings in this year’s report should be a watershed moment for schools and parents because we know that children who are behind before they begin Reception are more likely to struggle throughout life. The 40% attainment gap we see at GCSE is already evident at age 5… we need to question why the critically important first key stage of our education system doesn’t start until age five – when we know that we all start learning from birth.”

Alison Morton, iHV CEO, said:

“Health visitors have a vital role to play in ensuring that all children are supported to be ready for school. When adequately resourced, they are in a privileged position as the only service that proactively and systematically reaches all families with babies and young children – we need to maximise these important opportunities to prevent and identify problems early to ensure that all children get the support that they need to be ready to learn when they start school. However, following years of cuts to the health visiting service, too many families are not receiving this vital support. Cuts have consequences and sadly children are the innocent victims. We urgently need more health visitors.”

Go to Kindred² School Readiness Survey Report and Infographic

Health visitors raise the alarm as more families struggle with poverty and poor health

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) publishes its findings from the largest UK survey of frontline health visitors working with families with babies and young children across the UK – “State of Health Visiting, UK Survey Report: Millions supported as others miss out”.

It’s deeply shocking that 93% of health visitors reported an increase in the number of families affected by poverty in the last 12 months. Poverty was the cause of greatest concern to health visitors. They visit the homes that families are struggling to heat and witness the impossible choices that parents are forced to make about feeding their children or paying the bus fare to attend vital health appointments. These struggles are often hidden behind front doors and invisible to other services until the situation reaches crisis point. Alongside an increase in poverty affecting families over the last 12 months:

89% of health visitors reported an increase in the use of food banks
78% an increase in perinatal mental illness
69% an increase in domestic abuse
63% an increase in homelessness and asylum seekers
50% an increase in families skipping meals as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

Only 3% of health visitors surveyed reported that families had not been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. Some reported that poverty was so widespread that it had become the norm.

In our survey, health visitors also raised concerns about the wider impacts of poverty and increased parental struggle on children’s health, development and safety. The Government’s own data show that more children in England are falling behind with their development and health inequalities are widening. Worryingly, the situation is getting worse and showing no signs of recovery.

The good news is that health visitors saw millions of families last year, reaching significantly more babies and young children than any other health service or early years agency. However, despite health visitors’ best efforts, they are not able to meet the scale of rising need. Too many babies and young children are not receiving packages of support to improve their health and development when they need it, due to ongoing cuts to the health visitor workforce:

There is a national shortage of around 5,000 health visitors in England and families face a postcode lottery of support.
79% of health visitors said that the health visiting service lacked capacity to offer a package of support to all children with identified needs.
Only 45% of health visitors were “confident” or “very confident” that their service was able to meet the needs of vulnerable babies and children when a need is identified.
80% of health visitors said that other services were also stretched and lacked capacity to pick up onward referrals for children with additional needs. Thresholds for children’s social care support had increased and other services had long waiting lists.

Alison Morton, CEO at the Institute of Health Visiting, says,

“Consistently, health visitors have told us that parenting has become much harder for many families over the last 12 months. Health visitors are in a privileged position, they see firsthand the struggles that families with babies and young children are facing, often hidden behind front doors and invisible to other services. Sadly, despite policy promises, more and more children are not getting the “best start in life”. And the situation is getting worse with more children falling behind with their development and widening health inequalities. As babies can’t speak for themselves, health visitors provide a vital “voice” for our youngest citizens and an important warning signal for policymakers who are prepared to listen. It doesn’t have to be this way, change is possible.”

We publish at the start of a new year, with political and economic uncertainty, but also with hope as all political parties consider their plans to improve the health of our nation ahead of a general election expected this year. Our survey findings highlight the incredible potential and desire within the health visiting profession to support a brighter future for our nation’s children. But we cannot ignore the fact that the health visiting workforce is under significant pressure with unacceptable levels of work-related stress, as health visitors manage enormous caseloads, and escalating levels of need and vulnerability. We urgently need more health visitors.

Alison concludes:

“Our survey findings present a clear imperative to act. If we get the early years right, we can avoid so much harm later in life. The cuts to health visiting in England over the last 8 years have been a false economy. When sufficiently resourced, health visitors can take pressure off busy A&E departments and GPs, providing support for families in the heart of the community. The costs to rebuild the health visiting service in England are small compared to the spiralling costs of NHS treatment, child maltreatment and cumulative costs across the life course. Investing in our children’s health is not only the right thing to do, it also makes sound economic sense.”

Read the full report “State of Health Visiting, UK Survey Report: Millions supported as others miss out”

To cite this report, please use the link to the pdf here: https://bit.ly/48W6TcE

Health Visitors – please share your views on immunisations!

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is responsible for protecting everyone in the community from the impact of infectious diseases, and vaccines play an important part in this.

UKHSA would like to invite you to take part in the UKHSA survey of Health Visitors to share your experiences and thoughts on vaccination, and your views on possible new immunisations. They welcome all opinions.

We know that parents really value and trust health visitors’ advice and this anonymous survey will help UKHSA better support you in your work.

This is not a test of knowledge and there are no right or wrong answers. It will only take about 15 minutes of your time.

The survey is being conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Health Visiting and University College London Institute of Child Health.

How to take part in the survey

If you are an iHV member, you should have received an email in the last day or so with a link to the UKHSA survey – please email us at [email protected] if you did not receive this.

If you are not an iHV member (and you are a health visitor), you can still complete the UKHSA survey – please email us at [email protected].

Your voice is crucial! Make it count!

It’s that time of year again – the opportunity for everyone who works in health visiting to contribute to the largest and most important survey of health visiting across the UK. We cannot stress how important the iHV annual health visiting survey is. The findings provide a powerful collective voice for health visiting and the families that we support.

Make your voice count! You see what is happening behind families’ front doors that is often invisible to other services. Health visiting is in a unique position as it provides the only systematic and proactive way of reaching all families with babies and children across the UK.

Our survey collects vital information on changing trends for child health, development and safety. This provides an important early warning of changing needs, long before they are captured in national child outcome data. Your valuable frontline practitioner intelligence is second to none!

What information is collected: Tell us how the needs of babies, young children and families have changed over the last 12 months? How are health visiting services responding? What’s going well? And what are the challenges that need addressing? Help us to speak up for the profession and make sure that we accurately reflect the realities that you see in practice.

Who can complete the survey? We want to hear from health visitors and anyone working in other roles in health visiting teams. All responses are anonymised to maintain confidentiality, so you can tell it as it is. This is probably one of the most important uses of 20 minutes of your valuable time.

What difference will the findings make? Each year, the iHV uses your valuable frontline practitioner intelligence to influence national policy, across numerous government departments, as well as party manifestos. We also use it in a multitude of evidence submissions to government enquiries, national conference presentations and briefings for government meetings. Last year, the findings attracted significant media interest and received excellent television, radio and print media coverage which helped to raise the profile of health visitors.

Health visitors are making a difference to families – supporting hundreds of thousands of families every year across the UK. With your help, we aim to make the work of health visiting more visible. Over the last year, we achieved a welcomed commitment to invest in health visiting from both the current government and leading opposition party.

But our journey is far from over. As health visitors, we need to keep speaking up and making the case for prevention and early intervention to address the challenges faced by families across the UK. The future health and wellbeing of countless babies, children, and families really do depend on us being a national voice – especially for those that are often invisible to other services and struggle to be heard. Investing in health visiting also makes sound economic sense!

Fill in our survey now to make sure your experience is counted!

If you are an iHV member, you should have received an email in the last day or so with a link to our survey – please email us at [email protected] if you did not receive this.

If you are not an iHV member (and you are a health visitor, or work in a health visiting team) you can still complete our survey – please email us at [email protected].

Help us to get the biggest response ever – this will make the findings harder to ignore!

Thank you for all your support.

Is health visiting helping families with minor illnesses? Tell us the answer by filling in our survey

Are you a health visitor, a health visiting leader or work as part of a health visiting team supporting babies, children, and families? How do you support families with childhood illnesses? Has this changed over time? We need your insights! Your voice matters!

iHV is working with three leading paediatricians on an important rapid review on the changing trends of A&E presentations for babies and children 0-4 years. As part of this project, we are undertaking a UK-wide survey to explore whether health visiting practice has changed over time. This focuses on health visiting’s role to support parents to manage minor illnesses and improve their health literacy.

We want to learn about your experiences of practice now – and also compare this with your experiences before the pandemic (we are interested in any experience that you had working in health visiting between 2015 to March 2020 / choose the time when your service was most well-resourced during this period).

Why is this important?

Our A&E departments are witnessing an alarming rise in attendances for minor conditions among babies and young children, yet there has not been a similar increase in hospital admissions for this age group. There are many hypotheses for this changing trend.

What these attendances do tell us is that these parents are worried when their baby or child is unwell and they are choosing to get the help that they need in A&E, rather than elsewhere.

And this is where you come in!

Health visiting teams have a pivotal role in supporting families, managing minor illnesses, and enhancing parental health literacy. Your knowledge and expertise in this area can really help!

Tell us about your own experiences – advocate for the families where you work!

We want to hear your thoughts on the key drivers of families’ behaviours when they are managing minor illnesses.

Your answers will remain anonymous, enabling you to be candid about your experiences. We need your help to get a big sample to make sure that the findings count and are taken seriously by policymakers.

What next? With your help, we’re aiming to influence national policy to make sure parents get the right support when they need it most.

The survey findings will provide vital information for the health sector. Your feedback will shape an important thematic report and short film that will tell the story of changing trends in A&E presentations for children 0-4 and the role of health visitors in this area. The report and film will be shared with politicians, policy makers, national bodies, and the media to influence policies that affect health and parenting support.

Thank you so much for your support.

How to take part in the UK’s first national health visiting minor illness survey

Take the survey yourself now and invite your fellow health visiting colleagues to participate.
The survey will only take around 10 minutes of your time.
For those people on our mailing lists (including members and expired members), you will have received an email from us with the survey link. So please do check your emails.
For those health visitors or members of health visiting teams who are not on our mailing lists, or can’t find your email, and would like to complete this vital survey, please contact [email protected] to request the survey link.

Together, we can really make a difference!

#HealthVisiting #ParentalHealthLiteracy #ChildrensHealth #ManagingMinorIllnesses

Exciting news for SCPHN recruitment in London – how to get involved

The iHV is delighted to have been commissioned by the HEE London SCPHN Project to kick-start the development of a Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (SCPHN) recruitment pathway. This is the beginning of the Capital Nurse Programme for health visiting and school nursing services in London. The project will address the recruitment challenges of SCPHN training and inform a strengthened pathway to support nurses who are interested in becoming a SCPHN in London.

Background

The latest national data in England show that health visitor workforce numbers in England have dropped by almost 40% since 2015. It is estimated that school nursing has also lost a similar proportion of its workforce. London has been one of the hardest hit areas and services are struggling to fill significant gaps in their SCPHN posts. Across London, services have also reported that they are struggling to recruit to student SCPHN places, which is exacerbating the problem.

How can I help?

If you are working in London and are:

a SCPHN HEI (university) programme lead
a SCPHN provider lead (including SCPHN practice educators/assessors/supervisors)
a student SCPHN health visitor/school nurse

Then we would love to hear from you!

You can help by completing our short survey. We are also looking for volunteers to join one of our focus groups . Places are filling up fast for our focus groups, so don’t delay – contact us today!

Dates available for focus groups:

Fri 17/2/23 9:30am – 10:30am (Student HV/SN)
Tue 21/2/23 9:30am – 10:30am (HEI leads and provider leads)
Mon 27/2/23 9:30am – 10:30am (HEI leads and provider leads)

*Please note we are also holding 1:1 Interviews but these are now fully booked. If you would like to be added to a waiting list should a place become available – let us know.

For information about this project or to register for a focus group, please email [email protected] and [email protected].

Your knowledge and experience really matter!

If you are unable to attend a focus group, don’t worry, you can still have your say through completing one of our surveys:

Survey 1: HEI and provider leads
Survey 2: Student SCPHN health visitors/school nurses

All answers are anonymous, and findings will be presented as aggregate data, so you can be honest about how things really are. Tell us what’s working well and what the challenges are that need to be addressed.

How do I complete a survey?

Please email [email protected] advising of your role and where you work and request a link for the survey. Please share the link for the survey with your colleagues in London who are:

HEI SCPHN programme leads
Provider leads
Student SCPHN health visitors/school nurses

What will be the key outputs of the project?

The key findings will be presented in a report with infographics highlighting key themes and recommendations for practice and the current pathway on how nurses find out about becoming a SCPHN in London.

We know that London is not isolated with the challenges they face, so our findings will be published and made available to other areas across the UK who will benefit from the shared learning of this project.

What are the benefits of being part of this project?

The study aims to add to the current knowledge on student SCPHN (HV/SN) recruitment – you may experience some benefits from the questioning and reflection, knowing that this is adding to the body of knowledge in London and may have wider system impact across the country.
Participating in a pan-London project which you can add to your personal CV and use for NMC revalidation.
The iHV will send all focus group and 1:1 interview participants an electronic certificate of participation. This will include a short statement of your contribution to this project.
All participants will be entered into a prize draw with the opportunity to win a free ticket to attend one of our prestigious iHV conferences.

We would like to say a huge thank you to those of you who have already responded to our call for help with this project. Please carry on spreading the word with your colleagues!

Together we can help create a clearer pathway and build a sustainable SCPHN workforce for London!

Health visitor survey finds that more babies and young children are missing out on the government’s promise of the ‘best start in life’

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) publishes the findings from the largest UK survey of frontline health visitors working with families across the United Kingdom.

Our survey findings paint a bleak picture with health visitors seeing first-hand the realities that families with babies and young children in the UK are facing. Health visitors are reporting epidemic levels of poverty, with more parents struggling under the weight of the cost-of-living crisis that is forcing them to turn to food banks to feed their children. Alongside this, more parents are living with mental health problems, domestic abuse and adversity, that pose risks to the health and wellbeing of babies and young children.

Health visitors are witnessing the impacts of stress associated with poverty on children’s safety, health and development. At the same time, there are insufficient health visitors to meet the scale of rising need. This is being felt most acutely in England, as health visitors are battling to deliver a service following a loss of almost 40% of health visitors since 2015. Consequently, despite health visitors’ best efforts, many families are not receiving the support that they need, and this is being intensified by a lack of capacity in other health and social care services who are also experiencing extreme pressures.

Alison Morton, Executive Director at the Institute of Health Visiting, says,

“Through their universal reach, health visitors have a privileged and unique view into the lives of babies, young children and their parents/ carers across the UK. Health visitors’ experiences presented in this report provide an important ‘early warning signal’ of the most pressing threats and challenges to the health and wellbeing of our youngest citizens which are often hidden behind front doors and invisible to other services.

“The findings also paint a deteriorating picture of a health visiting workforce under immense pressure as practitioners struggle to meet the scale of rising need. Families are facing the brunt of these challenges with a widening postcode lottery of health visiting support across the UK.”

We publish at a time of ongoing uncertainty with political and economic instability, and ever-increasing health inequalities that will get worse if not addressed. The whole of the health and care system is also struggling to rebuild in the wake of the pandemic. As health visitors often work alone, or in small teams in families’ homes, their work is often hidden and it’s easy to overlook how important it is. The NHS backlogs regularly hit the headlines, but they are only one part of the legacy left by the pandemic on the healthcare system; less high-profile backlogs of care and unmet need in health visiting services have been overlooked within a ‘baby blind spot’ in national policy which will leave equally serious challenges for both mental and physical health for babies, children and families across the UK, now and in years to come.

Alison concludes:

“Because the first years of life are so important for lifelong health, wellbeing and success, ignoring this tsunami of unmet need being experienced by our youngest citizens risks undermining the life chances of so many children.

“It is not too late to change direction and pursue reforms, but the situation is serious. There is now unequivocal evidence that the current rate of health visitor workforce attrition, and insufficient training places to plug the forecasted gaps, is not sustainable and will jeopardise the delivery of all UK Governments’ child health programmes.

“In England, the Government categorised health visiting as one of six priority services in its Start for Life Vision for the first 1001 days. However, this commitment is at risk without investment and a plan to rebuild the health visitor workforce.”

Rising needs and widening inequalities – child safety, health and development: the problem, some key facts and stats:

91% of health visitors reported an increase in poverty affecting families over the past 12 months
91% reported an increase in families needing foodbanks
83% reported an increase in perinatal mental illness
75% reported an increase in domestic abuse.

Health visitors have witnessed first-hand the impact on babies and young children’s safety, health and development:

84% of health visitors reported an increase in children with speech, language and communication delay
76% an increase in child behaviour problems
60% of health visitors reported further increases in child safeguarding over the last 12 months (building on significant increases reported last year).

Health visitors in England also raised serious concerns that national data mask increases in child safeguarding, as:

Children living with significant risk and vulnerability are not detected as services are cut, and
Social workers’ caseloads are capped to a maximum – growing numbers of children living with significant risk and vulnerability now fall below higher thresholds.

Only 7% of health visitors in the UK felt confident that all families would be able to access the support they needed when a problem was identified. 86% reported that there was not enough capacity in other services to pick up referrals for support/ treatment

Our main policy recommendations:

Prioritise the first 1001 days of life – a shared cross-government ambition and strategy for the first 1001 days is needed to improve health outcomes and reduce inequalities for babies, young children and families. This needs to be prioritised by the Treasury and seen as the smartest of all investments in our nation’s future, rather than as a cost.
A shift towards prevention and early intervention is needed to support all people to lead healthy and fulfilling lives by addressing the key public health priorities that pose the greatest threats to our nation’s health, thereby preventing debilitating and costly ill health in later life.
Equity of access to support is needed for all babies, children and families across the UK and an end to the current postcode lottery.
System’s thinking – the benefits of an effective health visiting service accrue to numerous government departments and across a person’s lifetime. Complex system’s principles need to be applied across all aspects of health and care delivery, including workforce planning, funding and the development of measures that capture health visitor’s input and impact across the system.
Integrated clinical care pathways with significant ‘front-loaded’ investment in prevention and early intervention are needed across health visiting, school nursing, midwifery, social care, General Practice, and early years, to ensure:

All babies, children and families are supported to reduce inequalities in key priority areas
All children at risk of poor outcomes are identified early
A continuum of support for a continuum of need is provided to achieve shared goals for key public health priorities for babies, children and families.

Strengthening the health visiting service requires a clear plan focused on the following three areas:

Funding – All areas need sufficient funding to deliver the full national specification for the health visiting service and preventative public health programme for children
Workforce – A demand-driven, well-resourced national workforce strategy is needed to increase the number of health visitors to address current and forecasted losses, and improve retention, job satisfaction and career progression for experienced staff
Quality – National government must do more to:
- support local authorities with resources to provide health visiting services at a level that delivers everything that government and NICE guidance expects of them, and that families need
- hold local authorities to account when services are not meeting national guidelines
- support the ongoing research, development and sharing of evidence-driven models of best practice based on proportionate universalism.

Read the full report here

Thank you for making our collective voice louder!

What a fantastic team effort!! Together we did it – we smashed our annual survey target with a phenomenal 1,323 responses, making our collective voice louder!

We would like to say a huge heartfelt thank you to everyone who generously gave their time and completed our annual survey. Having such a large response rate adds considerable weight to the findings and makes the results much more powerful and very difficult to ignore.

We will use our survey findings to influence national policy making and decisions. We have already received considerable media interest in the 2022 survey findings which is excellent news for us. Our next steps are analysing and synthesising the data so we can accurately tell your story and highlight the challenges that babies, young children, and families are facing across the UK.

Keep an eye out for the annual health visiting survey report which will be published in mid-December.

Thank you so much for making our collective voice louder and turning our whisper into a roar!!

Together we are so much stronger.

Survey – HVs: Supporting mothers with multiple long-term conditions

Unique challenges for mothers with multiple long-term conditions

1 in 5 pregnant women live with two or more long-term physical / mental health conditions. Examples include: diabetes, asthma, anxiety and depression.

Some women may need to attend many appointments with different specialist teams. Some may have to take multiple medications. This can be challenging when they have to juggle managing their health conditions with their role as a new mother. Their babies may be at risk of adverse outcomes such as prematurity and needing neonatal unit admission.

Health visitor’s role

Women with complex pregnancy may experience a lot of stress and anxiety during pregnancy and childbirth. They may take longer to recover, physical and mentally, after childbirth. Therefore, the support from health visitors beyond the 6-week postnatal period is invaluable, for the mother, infant, and family’s wellbeing and perinatal mental health.

The Mum-PreDiCT group wants to hear from health visitors

MuM-PreDiCT is a group of eight UK universities studying multiple long-term conditions in pregnancy. They want to find out what mother and baby outcomes are important to healthcare professionals (including health visitors).

They need help from health visitors to build a Core Outcome Set. This is a minimum standard list of outcomes that should be reported in all studies. This ensures that future studies measure what matters to health visitors, to help HVs make evidence-based decisions when caring for mothers with multiple conditions.

For more information and to access the survey

Thank you for your kind support!

Ing Lee, MuM-PreDiCT Clinical Research Fellow, University of Birmingham