Parents love health visitors as a uniquely valuable service. They trust their advice and turn to them easily when they are anxious or concerned about their new child. But Health Visitor numbers have been in freefall.
Our 2009 progress report showed huge variations in the number of health visitors up and down the country - County Durham had one health visitor for every 165 children whereas some London health trusts had as few as one health visitor for 800 children.
In our publication Health visitors - an endangered species, we revealed 76 per cent of parents in England want parenting support and advice on their child's health and development from a trained health visitor with up-to-date knowledge. 83 per cent of parents want that support and advice in the home.
The Family and Parenting Institute believes that health visitors are the key to effective early intervention in children’s lives. We have been campaigning to raise the voice of parents in the debate about the future of the service. We argue for a well-funded, well-trained universal health visitor service available to all parents of children under five, with specialist support for the most vulnerable families.
Read our fact sheets about health visitors:
Health Visitors - Post-Natal Depression
Health Visitors - Domestic Violence
