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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think about retraining as a.....

79 replies

StillAsAStatue · 28/04/2012 10:06

...........Health Visitor?

I know everyone on MN hates theirs, and they are seen by many as completely pointless at best, and dangerous at worst. However, I feel quite tempted to reply to the recent recruitment drive that has been mailed out to all nurses.

I have many reasons for being interested:

I have recent experience of being a new parent & would love to be in a position to help others.
Recent work experience has shown me that there is so much to the job that most people don't see.
I like the idea of studying again and gaining a further qualification, with all the associated opportunities for career progression etc.
It's a good time in my life to make changes.

Is it the MN equivalent of becoming a traffic warden? Will I be ostracised by all?

OP posts:

mosschops30 · 28/04/2012 13:22

YANBU i have just started my HV training this week and love it

i had a great HV and my HV practice teacher is amazing, im so glad shes not a follower. She told me the government guidelines are just that and that families live together 24 hours a day and if omething is working for them then thats fine by her. All the parents ive seen love her .

i did promise on MN to not become one of those awful HVs.
I think there is a lot of safeguarding involved that people dont realise and there is LOADS of paperwork

mosschops30 · 28/04/2012 13:31

Oh and our SCPHN course is completely separate for SN and HV they are not interchangeable, but it may differ depending on where you study i suppose

Rhinosaurus · 28/04/2012 13:38

Hi op, SN and HV also segregated on ours too, it depends on your trust. Our trust used to let SCPHNs do a ten week conversion course with under 5 practice competencies but now we would have to do the whole SCPHN course again to change to HV.

StrandedBear · 28/04/2012 13:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AThingInYourLife · 28/04/2012 13:44

The health visitors I've dealt with have all been good.

The one I had when DD1 was born was AMAZING. She was a breastfeeding counsellor too, which meant she was super supportive of me when DD was very slow to put on weight (went from 95th centile to 9th centile) because she was OK with the fact that she was healthy and alert and thriving despite being a skinny little thing.

I LOVED her, she was so lovely and gave me confidence when I was doubtful.

gypsyfloss · 28/04/2012 13:48

I had a rubbish one , a great one and now I am about to become one :)

I would say Still that now is a great time to retrain. There is funding till 2015 for training and jobs so make the most of it. Once that is gone it won't be back on the agenda again for a long while.

Maccapaccawacca · 28/04/2012 13:49

My HV was brilliant. I totally pre-judged her (i'm a MW and have met lots of totally rubbish HVs), by the end of our first meeting I had changed my mind.
We have spent a lot of time in each other's company (compared to most) as I had health problems with DS and severe PND. I cannot sing her praises enough.
Anyway, having heard similar HV recruitment ads I mentioned to her that I was thinking of re-training. She was encouraging but also realistic. She has been HV for over 25 yrs and said really all the 'hands on' work is done by nursery nurses nowadays. You're there to put your name to the stuff you need to be accountable for. Lots of safeguarding meetings, planning meetings etc.
But, the family friendly hours are tempting.
I decided against it as I still really love the buzz of high-care midwifery but I haven't ruled it out completely. Maybe when I have had all my children and they are at school.
Good luck.

ditavonteesed · 28/04/2012 13:50

Are you a nurse or a midwife already then? sounds like a great idea if it is something you really want to do. you could really make a difference to how a woman feels and how much she enjoys her baby. go for it.

TheFallenMadonna · 28/04/2012 13:51

The two I have had dealings with were utterly fab to me and my DC.

kingbeat23 · 28/04/2012 14:05

I have had 2 HVs both have been absolutely amazing and I can't sing thier praises highly enough.

My first put my fears to rest when I was severly stressed with newborn DD. The second managed to work out I was highly stressed after suffering from DV in the home, even though I didn't say a word to her, got me counselling, a psychologist, a place on the 2 year old pilot scheme for an NEG and has transformed my life.

If you manage to achieve anything near these 2 amazing women, then you will be doing a service to women everywhere and I commend you.

Good luck.

marriedinwhite · 28/04/2012 14:15

Mine was so bad I wrote to the local Trust and said I never wanted anything more to do with the service and they were never to contact me every again. I had dealings with one other and their boss at that time. The couldn't answer questions relating to a newly born baby, they couldn't advise about breast feeding, they couldn't record information correctly in the red book, they couldn't communicate and all three were exceptionally discourteous. In my experience the entire service is a huge waste of money.

However, as far as the OP is concerned, if you don't want to do proper nursing anymore and you want to focus on filling out paperwork and dictating the latest department of health mantra coloured with your own political ethos, then as far as I can see it's money for old rope - a job creation scheme for nurses who no longer want to nurse.

BoffinMum · 28/04/2012 14:20

TBH all mine have been fantastic. Absolutely lovely.

Original poster

StillAsAStatue · 28/04/2012 14:21

Thanks Rhino & Moss. I think the local course is mostly together with some modules different (from what a quick google shows!). SN does interest me too, having done a lot of work in sexual health, but the funding/focus seems to be much more in place for HV. A shame that you can no longer convert.

Gypsy have you got a place? Good luck!

Thanks for the encouragement. Yes Dita, I am a nurse already, have worked in several different areas and done other further study, but not yet found my niche!

Lovely to hear that people have had good experiences, thank you for sharing. Great to know that support has been there when it was needed.

FWIW, my experience of HV has not been that great. Nice, polite but not very supportive or available. I would love to do it differently.

OP posts:

SmellsLikeTeenStrop · 28/04/2012 14:28

I was disappointed with the HV I had for DS. DH and I had decided to co-sleep from the start with this one, rather than 2/3 months down the line when we were going stir-crazy from lack of sleep. I was fully prepared for a tussle in which the HV would tell me all the dangers of co-sleeping and that we were terrible parents for even contemplating it, and I would render her silent with my well researched pre-prepared answers. But when I told her that we were co-sleeping and had done our research and neither of us were smokers, fully prepared not to drink alcohol, had a firm mattress etc, she was all ''ok, you've obviously done your research''. And that was it.

Anyway, if that's what you want to do go for it, just please, for the love of small fluffy animals, don't be one of those health visitors. You know, the ones who tell breastfeeding mums that they need to eat less fibre otherwise it will give baby stomach problems (yes really), or other advice which is just nonsensical.

ChippingInLovesEasterEggs · 28/04/2012 14:40

I have serious doubts that we benefit from having HV's as there are so many terrible ones... but unless the govt is going to pull them all out then we need as many good ones as we can possibly get - especially ones who are prepared to get rid of the crap ones if/when they can.

Good luck getting on the course & a position if it's what you decide you want to do.

AkhalTeke · 28/04/2012 14:44

Well, all the ones I have experienced have been dangerous, spiteful mentalists.

You don't sound like that, so go for it but I think they might insert a chip during the training that makes them all the same.

Rhinosaurus · 28/04/2012 16:33

if you don't want to do proper nursing anymore and you want to focus on filling out paperwork and dictating the latest department of health mantra coloured with your own political ethos, then as far as I can see it's money for old rope - a job creation scheme for nurses who no longer want to nurse.

Wow married, what a sweeping generalisation, and how scathing to an entire profession! For your information, proper nursing actually involves lots of paperwork too, oh and dictating the latest DOH mantra coloured with their own political bias! I suppose the significant safeguarding role and involvement in CAFs and TACs that health visitors play is not a "proper job" then?

OP, to give you some more constructive advice, the current recruitment is down to the government recognising the importance of early intervention, and is part of the white paper Healthy People Healthy Lives. Also, there are more health visitors needed to fulfill the proposals for a three year check in "readiness for school", to ensure that children going to school are continent, have started on basic learning such as colours etc.

I think there is also going to be a recruitment drive for school nurses - they DOH recently published a paper about this. At present we have six people in our trust on varying stages of a SCPHN programme for SN, with two more a year recruited.

I never fancied doing HV as I prefer working with older children, however I do work closely with the HVs - when a child starts school, if there are issues/safeguarding/CAFs/ongoing support for parents the HVs hand them over to us, we have just as many children on our caseload as although we don't see every child, we cover a larger number, as well as doing drop ins at secondary schools and smoking cessation clinics.

mosschops30 · 28/04/2012 17:29

marriedinwhite what a terrible post.

Im sorry you had such a bad experience, but you cant say everyone in a profession is the same.
I was an ITU nurse, and its not that i dont want to 'nurse' anymore i was just sick of seeing people at the end of life when its too late to make a difference, all i saw was death and it was really getting me down.
I hope that as a HV i will be able to offer sensible advice to parents, to enable them to make informed decisions that could help their family, i want to be able to help them access services that are available to those not coping, or even those who are. And i hope that i can safeguard children who are being neglected or abused by adults who are supposed to care for them.

If you think all that is just about cooing at babies and pushing paper then you need to wake up

CrumpettyTree · 28/04/2012 17:36

Not everyone thinks their hv is crap. You just hear more about it when they are bad. I had some pretty good ones.

verytellytubby · 28/04/2012 17:58

Do you have to train as a nurse first?

Rhinosaurus · 28/04/2012 18:01

Tellytubby

To train as a HV or SN you need to be a registered nurse or midwife, however some people go immediately onto a HV course when they qualify so you don't actually have to work as a nurse or midwife.

SoozyWoozy · 28/04/2012 18:05

If you're not sure, is there a local HV who you can shadow for a couple of days to get a feel for 'real life' in the job? We definitely need more good HVs, but we also can't afford to lose the good nurses and MWs out of hospitals / community settings too :)

verytellytubby · 28/04/2012 18:06

Interesting. I've always wanted to be a HV as mine was completely useless when my twins were born and a good one (I know they exist) would have made a difference to me. I also considered midwifery but I don't think I can handle the shifts.

fifioz · 28/04/2012 18:10

Go for it, I am one and really enjoy it but it is very much child protection. Most of the clinics, dealing with "normal families" etc. is done by others in the HV team.

JugglingWithTangentialOranges · 28/04/2012 18:12

I've wondered if I could do this as it seems a very interesting and worthwhile job to me.

I have a nursing qualification (RMN - Psychiatric nursing) but didn't work as a nurse after qualifying as I went straight into doing a PGCE to train as a teacher. I worked mainly within Early Years both as a teacher and as an early years practitioner in other roles.

Would be interested to know if I might be considered for training as a Health Visitor. I feel I have many relevant transferable skills, but don't know if I'd be considered without more nursing experience ?

Like you Statue I'd enjoy the opportunity for further training, and think I could be a good HV. I'm sure you'd be great given what you've said. Definitely go for it !

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