to wonder what timetable HVs work to?

[renegadesoundwave]

Before I start I really, really don't want to make this a stay at home/work outside the home debate, but my latest encounter with my HV has left me totally nonplussed.

DD is due her 9-12 month check soon, and a letter came through the post last week saying an appointment had been made for her at 2pm on a Monday afternoon. I work (outside the home) on Mondays - Thursdays and have Fridays at home. Since I've just used up my allocated holiday when DD was ill, I asked if it would be possible to move the appointment to Friday, but was told "we don't do any appointments on Fridays, the only day we could do is a Monday or, if your circumstances are really exceptional, a Tuesday."

When I then asked whether I could have a later appointment I was told that the latest appointment they do is 2pm, and the earliest 10am; the only days they do are Mondays and Tuesdays. Apparently I can't have the check done by my GP either and it has to be at my local Sure Start centre - on a Monday or Tuesday.

I don't think I'm the only parent of a 9-month-old who works on Mondays and Tuesdays... AIBU to think I should be able to take DD to an HV check-up on a Friday?

just don't take her as they can't do it.

make an appointment with the GP or the nurse at your surgery for a time convenient to you.

Don't forget that they don't just do the stuff at the surgery or surestart centre, they do many, many home visits too and have to try and fit in a very large caseload with not enough staff. As your other half to take time off and take her.

they're thinly spread atm

round here i HAVE to go to a surestart centre because the HV who used to work at our GPs just has too many people to see

they're generally spread between several places, so will do appts for different areas on different days

i guess your HV is maybe a mum too and only works during school time perhaps?

anyway, to be totally honest these checks are normally a waste of time IMO. but if you do want her seen or if you have any worries then just make her an appt with the GP and explain to them... they WILL be able to do it

Decline the check and if you feel you want to make a point about it write a short letter explaining you feel that this is unreasonable.

If you have other concerns then make a separate appointment at a time to suit i.e. a general/non-check appointment.

I don't think it's that necessary to have it done if you don't have any concerns regarding milestones/hearing/vision/vocalising etc.

Not unusual I don't think. My GP surgery runs a baby clinic on a Tuesday, and only Tuesday. I can't get my DC weighed/checked or even vaccinated on any other day Just as when I was pregnant I couldn't see a MW any day except Wednesday!

Luckily I'm a sahm so it doesn't really matter, but if I was having to take unpaid leave from work to do these things I would be mightily pissed off.

The check isn't compulsory btw.......as long as you haven't got any concerns you want to raise with the HV, just don't go.

You're not obliged to attend the check. I would write and explain why you can't go. If you have any concerns about your daughter make an appointment with your GP to discuss them which is what I would do anyway based upon my experience of the efficacy of the HV service. They want to provide this service and they should be making attempts to provide at your convenience not theirs. My children are much older now and the service, even 16 years ago, was centred around them rather than the needs of the parents/children.

They, like many other parts of the NHS, need to appreciate that its funding depends on taxpayers, and tax payers need to keep their jobs to keep on paying it. The service is free at the point of delivery it is not free. Those providing it need to ensure it is fit for purpose.

Agree with PPs. This isn't compulsory and if you have to work, then you have to work.

If you do have any concerns re development make an appointment with GP/nurse. If you don't, then don't worry about it.

It does annoy me that anything baby or child-related seems to be run as though we're all SAH parents.

I saw the health visitor once when my first child was born 23 years ago, I never kept clinic appointments either. My second son 17 years old now never saw a health visitor.

In my day they were interferring busy bodies who were achaic and in some cases never has a clue what they were talking about.

Told my my son was deaf for god sake, nothing wrong with his hearing at all.

Your child doesn't need the check if you are happy with their progress why even worry?

If you have no concerns I wouldn't bother going. I only went to DS's as I had some specific issues I wanted to discuss and it was the only time I could pin the HV down and get her undivded attention in private

YANBU. I had this problem with DS1. I could never get to the usual weighing sessions, or the developmental checks. I got quite stressed about it, as a first time single mother, as there were things that I wanted to ask, just to check, and had no one else to discuss them with. I guess the only way round this is to write to the surgery. I would request that the check is done in a GP appointment, if you can get to one.

My HV just made me feel stressed and was no use at all to me. Given my time again, I would just make an appointment with the GP for check ups. There is nothing stopping you from doing this and just not telling the receptionist why you are making the appt. You can just tell the GP at the time, that you were unable to get the time off work to see the HV.

I bought a set of digital baby scales to weigh my baby, as going to the baby clinic took all afternoon. Still have them if anyone is in South Wales and wants them.

So for those who think that this system is unreasonable, what alternatives would you suggest ? That all HVs are available for you to pitch up at a time which suits YOU alone ? And would the same rule apply to the other couple of hundred parents on the HVs caseload ? Should you be able to just appear in the middle of a home visit with a first time mum, or interrupt a meeting with social services about an abused child ? Perhaps the HV should cancel all appointments with vulnerable children and mothers, just so that she's available for you? And all those silly planning and multi disciplinary meetings should be scrapped as well ? And as for mothers with PND, well why should THEY expect the input from a HV, when she could very well be waiting for you to not be at work ? And as she may well be a HV who has elderly patients on her caseload (they don't just have kids) how inconsiderate of her to expect the needs of an elderly, vulnerable. housebound, neglected or abused person to be high on her priorities. Don't even expect her to complete and notes and documentaion because - well - she can do that when she's NOT waiting for you to not be at work.
YABU (And I'm neither a HV or a SAHM )

Great, another HV bashing thread.

If you don't like the service offered don't use it. There are millions of families who NEED their HV team and all the support they bring. A few less would be a relief.

OP, if you have a concern about your daughters development you can see your GP, if you have no concerns then allow someone else the HVs time.

I am a HV and if a Mum works I fit the appointment around her and it's not an issue for me at all.

I'm not a GP or practice nurse, half my time is spent visiting families in their own homes so adding one more on to meet the needs of a parent is no problem. Can't see why other HVs cannot do the same - okay it might need putting back a few weeks but can be done at a time to suit the Mum or Dad then.

I think it sounds very inflexible for you OP and it might be worth asking to speak with the HV herself rather than a clerk booking the appointments.

Sassybeast: Erm, no. What a totally irrational and melodramatic response!

I suspect that most working parents would settle for being able to attend an early morning or evening clinic session scheduled once each fortnight or month, depending on local demand. I don't think this is a lot to ask.

Our local GP/nurse do evening sessions which made it much easier to schedule DD's vaccinations. I took half a day's leave to attend her 1 year development check because there was no flexibility in the HV schedule and I had no idea until I attended whether or not it would be useful. (It wasn't but I can see that it might have been if you had concerns about your child's development.)

It's not rocket science to see that if you want the wider population to be able to access healthcare and support, then you need to make it accessible.

I just wouldn't go, dd is 3 now and hadn't been seen by a hv since her 6 week check apart from 2 weigh ins I took her to.

Irrational and melodramatic ? Not rocket science ? You need to loosen those patronising pants Toggy sweetie

YABU. they probably allocate so many days a week for certain appointments/work.
they don't spend all their time with babies

Sassy I was one of those mothers with (severe) PND. I was still only allowed to see my HV during a baby clinic (so not even in private) on a Tuesday.

Don't assume that everyone who needs help is getting it.

I run a clinic (not a HV, but similar) and I have use of my clinic premises for a set time each week. Those are my clinic hours, just as an obstetrician will have his clinic at the hospital on a set day, as will a dermatologist, an oncologist etc etc. Occasionally you do get women who just don't understand why I can't sit at my clinic from 6am-10pm, seven days a week and wait for them to turn up. It is very frustrating and not matter how many times I explain "My clinic hours are x until z on y day, this is when I have use of my clinic and this is the time set aside to see people in a clinic setting, the rest of the time either the clinic is in use by someone else or I am very busy doing all the other things my job entails", they still say "yeah, but I am only free at 8.30pm on Friday, why can't you see me then?" Sigh.

YABU.

The difference Harder, is that even if you explain to an HV why you aren't attending they still call you (or did 16 years ago) to find out why you haven't been and tell you you should go when the service doesn't meet the needs of the customer. Often HV services are run from GP premises with empty consulting rooms because rarely are all the doctors on duty. It is not rocket science to work out that working mothers are at work during the day time, mostly, and that it might be helpful to run clinics during the early evening. Furthermore parents are not obliged to see health visitors or have the checks completed and if HVs want families to see them they have to begin to offer a user friendly service and ensure it is of a high quality. From my experience of the quality, I would happily take a 1/2 day of annual leave to see an obstetrician; if I had to see an oncologist I would probably be on sick leave. Frankly I would not use my annual leave to see a health visitor - if I really thought there was a problem with my child I would make an appointment to see a doctor and ask for a specialist referral - not to see a nurse from a specialism with a very poor reputation. At the end of the day HV's are paid to provide a service - when they stop being a waste of time, perhaps they can start calling the tune.

It's a real catch-22, isn't it Harder? I agree that it is unreasonable to expect HVs to be available 24/7 in order to fit around working and non-working parents/carers/the elderly and many do have an impossible caseload since their services are being cut back. (Having had eight of my department made redundant and now doing all of their work in four days, believe me, I sympathise). I certainly wouldn't expect a weekend or evening service, and when I asked for an earlier or later appointment I didn't mean 6:30 in the morning or 10 at night - I wouldn't be that unreasonable or stupid.

However, the problem as I see it is that if we have a service that isn't easily available to parents who can't be available during the day, more and more people will stop using it: and then they'll be in the firing line to be cut back even further. It's already happening with SureStart centres and I can see it happening with many of the HV services too. In order to support them, we have to use them - but we just can't if it means deciding 'do I use my unpaid leave (which I have to justify in writing and have approved at all sorts of levels before taking) by going to an appointment where I have no idea what they check and I have no idea how long it'll take, or do I save this time for when my child is ill and I need to stay home to look after him/her?'

Sadly, I believe there's a legal requirement to allow time off for obstetrician appointments during pregnancy (or it's good practice anyway); however this isn't the case for children's checkups. If I went to a surgeon and was allocated an appointment, there would also be a legal requirement or at least good practice for the workplace to allow it; for this, there isn't.

Sassy, first of all, you're right. Nobody was saying (I hope) that the entire service must be adjusted to fit around the needs of the workplace at the expense of abused children, the elderly, the vulnerable and those who really need help. My own experience of the PND support was actually pretty damaging once it stopped being non-existent ('I know your doctor says you should take antidepressants, but you shouldn't because it would affect your breastfeeding and you really must exclusively breastfeed for six months no matter how much you want to give up because it's Best for Baby. Why not read a magazine? That'll make you feel better!!'), but I was probably unlucky.
Personally I would be more than happy to opt out of the service and give my caseload to someone more deserving (my default position is that most of the world are more deserving than me, but that's my ishoo), but IME there's no easy way to do this.

Blimey this is a long post...

If you've no concerns about your child, just say you can't go. The PCT axed that milestone check-up in our area anyway so it can't be all that crucial. If you had any concerns, presume you'd have had them addressed alreadt anyhow.