To think the health visitor shouldn’t be optional anymore?

[Belindaminder]

Over the years I’ve been aware of situations that may not have escalated if a professional had noticed and intervened.
A previous neighbour refused any visits from both midwife and HV after the birth as they are ‘know it alls and it’s not necessary’. Her baby needed an emergency operation due to an illness that hadn’t been noted. Also it was discovered later on he had partial deafness which would have been picked up during the hearing test.
Someone I know well opted out of seeing a health visitor when her baby was born. As a result she has never been weighed (since birth), and has never reached out for advice or support with several issues the baby has had ‘because she’ll grow out of them naturally’.
I worry babies like this disappear into the shadows and miss out on health or developmental support they may need. Also the potential hiding of abuse (in parent or child or both), neglect, depression etc that may not be picked up until nursery age or later.
I’ve heard many horror stories that could have been prevented with a professional being aware.
I was thankful for my HV when my eldest was born. I was in an abusive situation. I really wanted to breastfeed but I was ‘forbidden’ from doing it. The HV was great at giving me a confidence boost and reassuring me my baby was healthy. The support I was given lead me to the happy situation I am now in, which wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for her. (I’ve had awful ones too, I’m not praising them as royalty, just that their profession is necessary).
I know I will see responses that it’s our human right to decide and many babies and families are absolutely fine and gain nothing by the HV visits, but what about the ones who aren’t? In my eyes as a HV I’d be concerned and suspicious about why someone opted out of something that was to provide advice and care for their child. There were no ‘repercussions’ for the people who refused a HV when they needed one. Shouldn't it be viewed as neglect?
Does anyone agree that HV visits should be part of the deal of having a baby or face the consequences, or am I on my own here?

HV must say the sentence “talk to your GP” more than any other HCP in existence.

If providing a person with a safe, appropriate, nourishing foodstuff that came in a carton supplied by a regulated food manufacturer is 'artificial feeding', I guess pretty much all of us on this thread must 'artificially' feed ourselves as a matter of course every single day.

I'm a health visitor refuser. I'd be angered if they were mandatory. I have yet to meet one health visitor (out of 4 i've come accross for DD plus many professionally) who have any use. I saw them initially ans they were quite frankly terrible.

They're often rude, unknowledgable and in some cases harmful. A useless profession that ime attracts lazy, usless nurses who wouldn't last 5 minutes on a ward. Yes i know someone will have a go at me for saying that. But its largely true. The good ones end up elsewhere.

Can't stand them. If the NHS wants to save money phase them out. You'd save a fortune.

Indeed. Whether it's their intention or not, being summarily unable and/or unwilling to answer basic questions and give simple advice on topics that are their supposed raison d'etre does very much feed the common belief that HV's only purpose is to check up on you and criticise/patronise/shame/report you for the tiniest sign that they may reach to interpret as failure - even including admitting to being tired with a new baby!

Suspicious in the same way as those mysterious shops on the high street that stay open for years (open for three hours a week) even though no customers ever seem to go in - and any that do find they have nothing available to buy.

I think there should also be a licence to be a parent so that there is not an endless cycle of issues

My youngest DC was born in the middle of the first lockdown and we’ve had two visits from a HV- once after he was born, once when he turned two. Never heard from them since. The two year check was basically a long questionnaire- can he do x, can he do y. He couldn’t do one thing on the list (jumping off the ground I believe) so I got a phone call a couple of months later to ask if he could now jump, he could so that was that.

I wouldn’t have refused more visits if offered but they never were. They seemed a little pointless to me though because they mostly told me shit I already knew and seemed to just be ticking boxes the whole time.

On the fence with this one: I hated my HV (not that It was the same one every visit) particularly because there was no benefit and I felt it would be easy to " pull wool over their eyes" if I had so wished.
Last visit was when DS was about 2ish and I did say, he attends nursery has been seen by the GP recently - why are you here? So in a way I agree, the system doesn't work because they only visit "seen" kids and spend a lot of resources on that when they should be seeing the kids who don't attend nursery and haven't been seen by a medical professional, as those ones are more likely to be at risk. I think the whole system needs an overhaul! X

Those are very odd reasons to ‘hate’ someone🤔 ….do you ‘hate’ a lot of people?

I had a lockdown baby so my child has never seen a HV, couldn't get them to see my child for love nor money, and when it came around to 2 year check, I declined as I hadn't needed them up to that point, didn't need them after.

Anyway, at the time I questioned the HV service, and said surely if someone declines it should flag up somewhere. Because all that happened was I got text inviting me and I responded and said 'no thanks' and never heard from them again which surprised me. I asked them surely is it not a concern, and do they follow these declines up? Nope. I was told they don't have to time to worry about that. Nice!

Ha this is so true. Even when I did see them with my older kids, everything was 'go to your GP'. Thanks. So the point of seeing you is....? Cut out the middleman and just go to GP. I'd rather funds were put into improving GP services than HV.

Why would they follow up a decline? It’s not a mandatory service 🤷‍♀️ why would it be a concern that someone has declined? ……loads of people decline …..same as loads decline immunisations
they do however inform the gp of the parents wishes and record it on the child’s records…..just so the gp doesn’t later ask HV to support a family

Because as others have said on here, people declining may be the ones that most need the help, or hiding something.

I'm not bothered, I never wanted to see them, absolute waste of time and money and energy.

Well that’s like saying all kids should go to school and not be home schooled cos they trying to hide something………it’s absolutely fine to decline the service…..even when a child is on a Child Protection plan they can decline a health visitor service…..I mean it’s not a great move…..but it is their right…..and I’ve seen people do it

Bloody hell, that's what I am saying. It is fine and health visitors don't care. I was responding to a previous poster.

On Mumsnet HVs rank alongside MILs and dogs as the most hated. You’ll never get a balanced discussion on here.

🤣🤣🤣
this is true

i did the job for a while and loved it…..most of the the mums were lovely …..they were always in when I called ….and always very appreciative …..obviously none of them were on mumsnet! …..tbf the job is mostly safeguarding these days.
We used to love it when someone declined the service…..one less family on our caseload 😂

In principle I agree in order to help prevent neglect and abuse but the health visitors I had were absolutely useless.

My eldest is 17, when she was a very new baby my GP practise still had drop in baby clinics for under 2s where you could get advice, get them weighed, and they were run by lovely knowledgeable nurses. This stopped by the time she was six months old and we ended up with a rubbish HV who basically blamed me as a young single mum for my daughters health problems and poor weight gain, it turns out my daughter had severe complex needs and a chromosome depletion, HV had no idea or advice about disability or health conditions just crappy leaflets about weaning and free toothbrushes, pointless.
.

My first HV used to be a night Sister in the hospital where I worked part time as staff nurse , she was horrible and there was no way I was inflicting her on my child . All the community midwives I saw were rubbish as well .

Fucking hell….you mumsnetters have all had it hard 🙄

Our HV spotted my baby’s tongue tie and referred him for op after it was missed in hospital check, then by three midwives and two Breastfeeding specialists. I can’t imagine why people wouldn’t want extra free support from a qualified person.

For those unaware, HVs are qualified nurses and or midwives, who have done further training and a degree in public health. They also undertake safeguarding training, maternal mental health training, identifying domestic violence, working with parents with drug and alcohol issues as well as all the required knowledge about child health. Most are now nurse prescribers. This is especially useful as the HV can write a prescription without the parents requiring a GP appointment. Parents are particularly satisfied with this aspect of the service.

Mumsnet attracts a certain person who claim they have/had the most awful experiences of the HV service. It’s puzzling as to why so many unhappy parents are all on Mumsnet, as in real life, most families appear pretty satisfied with the service.

I was a HV for a long time. The GPs I worked with frequently referred to me on matters pertaining to newborns. Neither GP was especially clued up and they really valued my input. In many years of health visiting I had only one family who declined my services. This was following a referral I made to social services over a concern for the safety of the children.

Why so defensive?! Yes I hated the experience. Sorry should have elaborated on my original post.
Thanks for pointing that out. Wouldn't want people thinking I go about 'hating a lot of people!' Was that all you took from my post?🤔

Well I was a health visitor back in the day if you’ve read my posts….like lots of my mates…..but I don’t think I was defensive🤔….you obviously haven’t read some of my really defensive posts 🤣…..but yeh it came across as very odd the way you said you hated your HV 🙄….I also took from your post that you know fuck all about what health visitors do and you just wanted to jump on the bandwagon of haters 🙄🙄…..but hey whatever makes you feel good 😁

another one who couldn’t be arsed opting out and thus saving your HV the bother of sitting looking at your bored gob

Didn't opt out because I thought they'd be of use? But they never were. All you're doing is boosting the poor reputation of HV.
Won't enter into a discussion which on part agrees with OP, that opting out should be a concern, like you've said who wouldn't want free support from a medical professional?
I'd love some Education on what it is HV do. Weigh and measure right? Bring over a free book and toothbrush? Tell you to speak your GP? Anything I've missed?