NHS North West

Health Visitors aim to promote good health and prevent illness by offering practical help and advice, usually supporting new parents and pre-school children (0-5 years old). Every pre-school child should be seen regularly by a Health Visitor, who offers support, reassurance and advice for parents, while being able to spot the signs of potentially-serious problems affecting the child.

It is a highly-demanding role, but despite the hard work, health visiting is intensely rewarding: there is enormous job satisfaction in personally supporting a family through difficult times, getting people on the right paths, and continuing to support them as they turn around their family lives.

There were 89,000 babies born in the North West in 2009/10, and 723,165 across the England and Wales. The government plans to recruit an extra 4,200 Health Visitors by April 2015, and support them by increasing resources to ensure all families can benefit from the skills and experience of Health Visitors.

Recent reviews including Marmot, Field, and Allen have investigated health inequalities, health in the early years, overall life chances and future achievement of children. They provide a growing body of evidence showing the value, for individuals and society as a whole, of early interventions. Health visitors are vital to making these interventions, both as leaders and as practitioners specially trained to deliver excellent outcomes.

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