Health Visiting is provided by specialist community public health nurses who lead and coordinate the universal Healthy Child programme, which offers expert health assessments, advice, support and interventions to all children and families as required in their first years of life.
They sit at the heart of children’s services and work in close partnership with parents, carers and local services from the antenatal period until school entry.
The team encourages and supports parents and carers to develop life-long skills to enable them to make informed choices that affect their future health and wellbeing.
All families are offered an initial Family Health Needs Assessment which ensures that the care plan for your child is centred on his/her needs.
This assessment will help you and your Health Visitor to plan what level of Health Visiting Service is needed.
This may be one of the following 4 levels:
- Your Community
Health Visiting teams have information about a wide range of health services in your local area and beyond including your children’s Centre’s, GP’s and Dentists.
They deliver ‘drop in’ Family Health Clinics/Baby Clinics in local communities to ensure all families have easy access to timely information, advice and support as required.
Access for prams and wheelchairs is available if needed.
- Universal
Universal health visiting is offered for all children aged 0-5 years and their families.
Health visiting teams co-ordinate and deliver the Healthy Child Programme working with you to assess your child’s health and development.
This is to identify any problems so that you can get help for your child as soon as possible.
The programme will give you the chance to receive any expert advice or help from the team on issues such as diet, parenting, preparation for nursery and school immunisations.
The universal healthy child programme contacts include:
- Ante natal contact
- New birth visit at 10 – 14 days
- Contact at 6-8 weeks
- Contact at 3-4 months
- A child health review by 1 year of age
- A child health review by 2 ½ years of age
- Targeted
A rapid response from your health visiting team if you need specific expert help on health issues such as feeding, parenting, sleep or emotional well-being.
- Specialist
If your child or family’s needs are more complex, your Health Visitor can play a key role in bringing together local services that can support you, your child, and the family.
You will be given every opportunity to say what you would like from these services and a plan put together so that you know how the support will happen and the name of the person responsible.
Clinical Specialist – Infant feeding
Our Clinical Specialist for infant feeding provides appointment based clinic.
If you feel an appointment at the clinic may help you with addressing any ongoing feeding problems you are having, please ask your Health Visitor or Midwife to make a referral.
Health visiting and SEND
Health Visitors support all children and young people including those with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to achieve well throughout their lives by keeping them and their families central to care when providing early help and support, we work in partnership with children’s specialist services.
The Local Offer is a user-friendly online website where all information about services for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) from birth to 25 years is written down in one place:
https://localoffer.haltonchildrenstrust.co.uk/
How can you access our service?
The teams are community based and can be contacted by telephone, email, texts, or at one of our ‘drop in’ Family Health clinics.
Care is provided from a range of different places including the family home, health clinics, nurseries and Children’s Centre’s.
Please telephone us via our locality numbers:
Runcorn
Telephone: 01928 593056
Email: bchft.0-19runcorn@nhs.net
Widnes
Telephone: 0151 495 5200
Email: bchft.0-19widnes@nhs.net
You can ask for our contact details from nursery, school, and the college.
ChatHealth Halton
You can text us using our digital messaging service called ChatHealth on the following numbers:
0-5s
07507 327025
5-19
07480 635988
11-19 (up to 25 years for those with SEND)
07507 330521
Find out more about ChatHealth.
Drop in Family Health Clinics
Widnes Healthy Child Drop-ins
Monday
Warrington Road Children’s Centre
9-30am to 11-30am
Tuesday
Ditton Library
1pm to 3pm
Wednesday
Kingsway Learning Centre
1pm to 3pm
Runcorn Healthy Child Drop-ins
Monday
St Pauls Health Centre
9-30am to 11.30am
Tuesday
Windmill Hill Children’s Centre
Tuesday 1pm to 3pm
Thursday
Halton Lodge Children’s Centre
9-30am-11-30am
Friday
Brookvale Children’s Centre
1pm to 3pm
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Please tell us about your recent visit or appointment by completing our online Talk to Us form.
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