Health visitor home visits
Find out information about home visits by our health visitors.
The early years of a child's life have a deep impact on their future experiences of health and wellbeing. Health professionals, particularly Health Visitors, have a vital role to play in supporting children and families during this first 5 years of a child's life.
The development of Universal Health Visiting Pathway in Scotland, presents a core home visiting programme to be offered to all families by Health Visitors as a minimum standard.
Along with these core visits, Health Visitors will be required to be available and responsive to parents to promote support and safeguard the wellbeing of children by providing information, advice and support to access other services.
The Universal Health Visiting Pathway is based on the following principles:
- Promoting, supporting and safeguarding the wellbeing of children
- Person-centeredness
- Building strong relationships from pregnancy
- Offering support during the early weeks and planning future contacts with families
- Focusing on family strengths, while assessing and respectfully responding to their needs.
The programme consists of 11 home visits to all families: 8 within the first year of life and 3 child health reviews between 13 months and 4 to 5 years.
Spanning the antenatal to pre-school period, the programme ensures the opportunity for Health Visitors, children and their parents to communicate and develop a relationship, which is open and built on trust. This will allow Health Visitors to better promote, support and safeguard the wellbeing of children.
