Info about health visitor

[drila]

Hello,
I am about to relocate to the UK with my DH and 8 months old baby and would like to have some info about GPs and health visitors. We are from Europe and lived and studied in the UK for many years, but our son was born when we were temporarily living in the middle east. I guess we can register with the closest GP, but how about the HV? Do we need one for our DS? What does the HV do exactly?
Thanks for your help!

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

The Health Visitors are attached to the GP's offices....when you register with the GP you can ask about how they manage it and if you can have an appointment made for your son and you to meet the HV....some parents choose not to bother....or only ask to see a HV if there's an issue such as a feeding problem or a developmental delay...but bear in mind the GP can deal with this just as well and in many cases the GP will be a faster route to appointments with specialists if that should ever be needed

....some areas have "Children's Centres" which have HVs attached to them and people can use the services at the children's centres for free if they live close enough...they offer things like weighing for babies and basic advice for parents on feeding etc in addition to baby signing classes or baby yoga and similar....it's all free if you're close enough.

Children's Centres do tend to be in areas with a high proportion of low income families though....they're not in areas where the majority of people have average or above average incomes as they were designed to help alleviate the effects of poverty...that does not mean that you shouldn't use them though as they're excellent resources should you end up living by one.

Health Visitors usually visit a new baby at home a few times in their first few months....many parents don't bother having them if they're confident and happy with their babies progress but some parents like the support and extra advice. You can access a HV until your child is 3 if needed....but this would be unusual as most people find the GP is best.

[drila]

Thanks! Very helpful!