Local NHS invests in more health visitors

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust plans to employ 63 more health visitors over the next three years.

Commissioners from NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, NHS Bury and NHS Oldham have provided the funding to Pennine Care in response to the Government’s drive to expand and strengthen health visiting services.

Pennine Care has already started the recruitment drive and will have 13 new health visitors trained and in post by this September, with a further 13 in place by this time next year. The remaining posts will be in place by 2015.

The additional health visitors will be allocated to meet the needs of each local population.

Health visitors are trained nurses or midwives that specialise in family and community health. They are skilled at spotting issues that may develop into problems or risks to a family or child if not addressed, such as a parent struggling to cope or a child with a health problem.

Health visitors will be able to work much more closely with a range of services to ensure that families receive the best advice on being a parent and giving their baby a healthy start; provide a quick response if families have a problem and make sure that the right advice and support is in place; and to help those families who need longer term support.

Denise Boyd, Service Development Director for Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The start of life is a crucial time for children and parents. Good, well-resourced health visiting services can help to ensure that families get the help they need and children get the best possible start. We pride ourselves on the high quality health visiting services we already provide and this will allow us to better support local families.”

Karen Kenton, Associate Director of Commissioning for Children and Maternity Services at NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, said: “We recognise the importance of providing early intervention and support to help babies and young children have the best start in life. We know that what happens in childhood has a significant impact on later life and that by intervening early we can help prevent ill health in future years.

“Families can access a range of support in convenient local settings such as children’s centres, health centres and their own homes.

"We also intend that Health Visitors work in partnership with families and other local organisations to help lay down the foundations for a healthy life throughout childhood and into adulthood.”