Our service

Meet Your Health Visiting Team

Our Health Visiting Team supports children and families from pregnancy through the early years of a child’s life.

Health Visiting teams lead the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme (HCP) and provide an evidence-based public health service that supports children, families and communities to achieve the best possible health and wellbeing outcomes.

We use the best available evidence to identify need early, promote health, prevent ill health and reduce health inequalities. We provide a universal service for all children aged 0-5 years, alongside targeted support for families who may need additional help.

How We Plan and Provide Your Care

Every family has a Health Visitor who is responsible for overseeing their care within the Health Visiting Service.

Your Health Visitor will assess your family’s needs, plan care and make sure you receive the right support at the right time.

As part of your agreed plan of care, support may also be provided by a Community Public Health Nurse (CPHN) or Community Public Health Associate (CPHA). These team members work closely with your Health Visitor and provide support appropriate to your family’s needs.

Your Health Visitor continues to oversee and coordinate your care, ensuring all members of the team work together to provide the best possible support for your child and family.

Our aim is to improve health and wellbeing, promote positive outcomes for children, and reduce health inequalities. We deliver a universal service for all children aged 0–5 years, alongside additional targeted support for children and families who may need extra help.

We work as locality teams across Oxfordshire and support families living within the county boundaries.

Our Team

Our Health Visiting Teams are made up of a range of professionals with different skills and expertise who work together to provide support at the right time.

While your named Health Visitor has overall responsibility for overseeing your child’s care within the Health Visiting Service, you may receive visits, advice or support from different members of the team depending on your family’s needs.

Health Visitors

Health Visitors are qualified nurses or midwives who have completed a Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (Health Visiting) qualification.

They lead the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme and work with families from pregnancy until children start school.

Health Visitors are:

Registered Nurses or Midwives
Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (Health Visiting)

Community Public Health Nurses (CPHNs)

Community Public Health Nurses work alongside Health Visitors to support children and families with their health, wellbeing and development.

They provide advice, support and targeted interventions to help children and families thrive.

Community Public Health Nurses are:

Registered Nurses or Midwives

Community Public Health Associates (CPHAs)

Community Public Health Associates (previously known as Nursery Nurses) are qualified early years practitioners who work as part of the Health Visiting Team.

They support children’s development and help families build confidence in caring for their child.

Community Public Health Associates have:

An Early Years or Childcare qualification
Additional training in child development and public health

Working Together for Your Family

Every family is different, and children may need different levels of support as they grow.

Health Visitors lead and coordinate care for families on their caseloads. Community Public Health Nurses and Community Public Health Associates provide support and interventions as part of an agreed plan of care, working alongside the Health Visitor to ensure families receive the right support at the right time.

By combining our different skills and expertise, we help children get the best possible start in life and support families to thrive.

How to contact us

All health visiting queries regarding your child and family health and wellbeing are managed through our text service ParentLine Chathealth.

Text: 07312 263 081

We use the single point of access (SPA) to arrange all appointments.

Phone: 01865 903 800
Email: cyp0-19@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk

Video about our service

Proactive care

Health visiting is a proactive, universal service that provides a platform from which to reach out to individuals and vulnerable groups, taking into account their different dynamics and needs, and reducing inequalities in health.

Pre-school children and their families are our key focus. All children under the age of 5 with an Oxfordshire postcode are linked to a local health visiting team.

Who we work with

We work with parents who have new babies, offering support and informed advice from the ante-natal period until the child starts school at 5 years.

We lead teams of Community Public Health Nurses, Community Public Health Associates and Administrators.

All families can expect a minimum number of contacts or visits as follows:

Before the birth of your child – this may be offered to you after midwifery liaison
Soon after the birth of your child
When your child is 6-8 weeks old
When your child is between 9-12 months
When your child is 24-30 months
When your child is 4 years
When you move into a new area

We will review your child’s health and development at all these stages.

If you are needing some extra support at various times in your child’s life, for example with sleep, behaviour, language development, toilet training, we can also support and advise.

We can see you at home, in a clinic or community setting.

We can also meet up with you digitally.

Regular healthy child and infant feeding clinics are run throughout the county.

We deliver a variety of health promotion groups, our “Early Days” postnatal groups, “Marvellous Me” health promotion groups, “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and “Breathing Space” groups for parents experiencing low mood and/or anxiety.

Many families may need support for specific issues that affect their children’s health and development, from time to time, so the service we provide to each family will vary according to a personalised assessment of their own needs and evidence of what will work for them.

We work alongside GPs, Midwives, Paediatricians, Early Years education, LCSS, Local Authority, voluntary organisations, among others.

https://ihv.org.uk/families/what-is-a-hv

We are “Baby Friendly”

Our health visiting service has been accredited as “Baby Friendly” with the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative. The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative enables public services to better support families with feeding and developing close and loving relationships so that all babies get the best possible start in life. Find out more about what that means and the standards we have to adhere to: