About our Warrington Health Visiting Service

Our Health Visiting Service is provided by specialist community public health nurses who lead and coordinate the universal Healthy Child programme, which offers expert health assessments, advice, support and interventions to children and families as required in their first years of life.

They sit at the heart of children’s services and work in close partnership with parents and carers from the antenatal period until school entry.

The team encourages and supports parents and carers to develop life-long skills to enable them to make informed choices that affect their future health and wellbeing.

All families are offered an initial Family Health Needs Assessment which ensures that the care plan for your child is centred on his/her needs. This assessment will help you and your Health Visitor to plan what level of Health Visiting Service is needed.

This may be one of the following 4 levels:

  1. Your Community

Health Visitors have information about a wide range of health services in your local area and beyond including your children’s Centre’s, GP’s and Dentists.

Health Visitors deliver ‘drop in’ Family Health Clinics/ Baby Clinics in local communities to ensure all families have easy access to timely information, advice and support as required. These provide access for prams and wheelchairs if needed.

  1. Universal

A universal health visiting service is offered for all children aged 0-5 years and their families.

Health visiting teams co-ordinate and deliver the Healthy Child Programme working with you to assess your child’s health and development. This is to identify any problems so that you can get help for your child as soon as possible. The programme will give you the chance to receive any expert help or advice or help from the team on issues such as diet, parenting, preparation for nursery and school immunisations.

The universal healthy child programme contacts include;

  • Ante natal contact
  • New birth visit at 10 – 14 days
  • Contact at 6-8 weeks
  • Contact at 3-4 months
  • A child health review  by 1 year of age
  • A child health review by 2 ½ years of age
  1. Targeted support

A rapid response from your health visiting team if you need specific expert help on health issues such as feeding, parenting, sleep or post natal depression.

  1. Specialist support

If your child’s needs are more complex your Health Visitor can play a key role in bringing together local services that can support you if your child and the family.

You will be given every opportunity to say what you would like from these services and a plan put together so that you know how the support will happen and the name of the person responsible.

Health Visiting Service: Our local offer for children

Health Visitors support all children and young people including those with additional health needs to achieve well throughout their lives by keeping them and their families central to care when providing early help and support.


Our leaflet

Warrington 0-19 service – Information about the Health Visiting and School Health Service leaflet


Video

Health visiting in your community video.