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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not call the HV back?

75 replies

Lovemcgarrett · 12/08/2015 21:49

After a couple of accidents and a couple of broken bones in the last fortnight, the HV has called for "a chat". This is the same HV who I made it very clear a couple of years ago after her "helpful comments" that I didn't want to see again.
Do I have to call her back? Any implications of I don't? They were genuine accidents to a very accident prone child (I know it sounds a lot!) but this HV is awful (she told me to shut my daughter in her room and just let her cry rather than cosleep as she was 4).

OP posts:

mrbob · 12/08/2015 23:00

Someone who refuses to see a HV and has a child with several injuries is obviously going to raise concern and if you refuse to engage again they may launch an investigation. These are the kind of things which are in place after some fairly horrific misses from the establishment resulting in children dying. They are not doing it to be shitty they are doing it because your children are following the pattern abused children can follow. Yours are clearly not being abused and 90% of the others they follow up are not being abused but a significant number ARE and will end up dead or seriously injured if they don't do this... So please call them back- it is just a formal check to see everything is ok

VitaminCrumpet · 12/08/2015 23:05

Why does the HV need to speak to the OP? If there was a safeguarding issue, wouldn't the hospital make a SS referral?

jaffacake2 · 12/08/2015 23:13

Yes they would make a as referral and then an assessment is made. The first person to be contacted by the social worker is usually the health visitor. This is information gathering to see if health professionals have any concerns.
Always a problem if all the heath visitor can report is that the parents have refused to see her.

Daisydottle · 12/08/2015 23:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VitaminCrumpet · 12/08/2015 23:26

If the HV makes a phone call and is satisfied with the answers, is the referral closed?

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 12/08/2015 23:33

Always a problem if all the heath visitor can report is that the parents have refused to see her.

Whaaaat? There's no legal obligation to engage with a health visitor in any shape or form if there is no child protection plan (or whatever it's called now a days) in place

If that is viewed pejoratively, then that should be made explicitly clear to parents to allow them to make an informed decision as to whether to engage with (what holds itself out to be an advisory) service or not

I am not advocating engaging or not - btw - but I am very shocked to read that. Certainly in all my dealings with the health visiting service that has never been mentioned

kbbeanie · 12/08/2015 23:39

I would call her back again. We were once wrongly accused by a&e of hurting our child and the hv was really very helpful throughout the whole thing...luckily i had quite a good relationship with mine and had been seeing her regularly for something completely unrelated and i rang her straight away completely petrified that a)someone was going to come and take my child off me and b)my child was still ill and i was sure it was a concussion but he wasn't assessed and cared for properly by a&e because they were too busy pointing the finger to listen to what we were telling them !

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 12/08/2015 23:39

So please call them back- it is just a formal check to see everything is ok

Actually - it's just a box ticking exercise. I'd love to know how many abusive parents suddenly fess up on the follow up phone to the HV after lying through their teeth at the hospital about what caused their child's injuries.

I'm not a betting person - but I'd say a success rate of maybe 0%?

My HV is a total waste of space so I take the DC to the doctors if I have any concerns after politely advising the HV that I don't require their services - which in quite entitled to do. I now realise that I am a person of "concern" after "refusing" to see her. That is actually outrageous

GingerCuddleMonster · 12/08/2015 23:52

they contact you after every a and e visit . Mine must be useless we've had 2 a and e visits in his short 1 year life. Once was when he was sofa surfing on the coffee table and banged his gums on the corner of the table, Que blood everywhere and recently because I found him in the living room waving a blistering pack of tablets around after guests had visited and I'd been to put the empty tea mugs in the kitchen. I didn't know if he'd eaten any of them

but I've not had one phone call?!

OP you've done the right thing in phoning them back, you've got nothing to hide so just explain.

Wavesun · 13/08/2015 00:07

I'm also a little worried about our seemingly lax health visitors in this area

My son broke his arm just before he started school so still under hv care. No call even though we had a visit to a&e. HV did call 6 weeks after this but that was due to newborn DD having a coughing fit so I'd taken her to a&e just to be careful.

Then DD at 3 cut her gums at nursery. No call. DD is 5 and in school now but I don't think I've heard from a health visitor since she was 1 :/

I wonder, what if you change numbers? How would you know they were trying to call you?Do they come out to visit then? Madness being referred to ss if all you did was get a new sim!

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 13/08/2015 00:10

well, exactly waves.

Do you know, my DD suffered a fractured skull at 6 months when a nurse let her fall of a bed in the hospital. Oddly enough I didn't hear anything from the HV.

But no doubt - even though the accident wasn't my fault - in a person of "concern" due to not engaging

GingerCuddleMonster · 13/08/2015 00:12

ahh I've changed my number due to weird stalker of a ex husband, that may be why I haven't had a call .

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 13/08/2015 00:15

Anyway....I just poked DH awake as I was so outraged

He's a healthcare professional who has to make quite a lot of referrals. He's assured me it's a load of bollocks that non-engagement with the HV is deemed to be "always a problem". It may be an issue but it tends to be if there have been previous child protection issues and an agreement between the caregivers and various agencies has been agreed that there will be specific engagement

That ties in legally with what I know the position is. Just wanted to post that here in case anyone felt similar alarm to me

sharonthewaspandthewineywall · 13/08/2015 07:03

Gobbolin it's not actually just a box ticking exercise. It's a recommendation from many serious case reviews most notably Victoria Climbie who had many a&e attendances with non accidental injuries.

GoblinLittleOwl · 13/08/2015 07:05

You would be foolish to refuse. She sounds eminently sensible to me.

Totality22 · 13/08/2015 07:17

My DS had 2 A&E admissions in a short space of time (one for illness and we were in for 3 days) and then another for a fall (given all clear in A&E) and this was only raised when we had our 1 year check a few months later? No calls or anything like that and I had to chase them to arrange said 1 year check!! I'd have been reassured if they had contacted me to check on DS.

OP, I completely agree that you have to call back. It would be petulant and petty not to imo.

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 13/08/2015 07:19

Just because it's a recommendation from an SCR doesn't mean that its implementation isn't a box ticking exercise.

I'm yet to see any evidence that a phone call from the HV in these circumstances has improved the outcome for any child. For example, I've never read a SCR related to serious injury that states that a call from a health visitor prevented or contributed to the prevention of the death of that child.

comedycentral · 13/08/2015 07:24

It's sounds like the HV is just doing her job, I am pleased to hear safeguarding and multi agency work in action.
Don't ignore her, exlain what happened rather than wasting her time.

IFancyRichard · 13/08/2015 07:33

I'm with Gobbo. It's intended to help but a phone call is just box ticking. I would feel angered that I had to engage just to stop social services involvement. I accept that 'the services' have a duty to this child and thus they need to make contact but I'd phone my GP or another HV belonging to any other practice and discuss it

sharonthewaspandthewineywall · 13/08/2015 07:39

Why would there be a Serious Case Review if the child had survived due to following up an A&E call? Sadly there's is very little published evidence that what hvs do works but thats not to say it doesn't. You can find out a lot from a simple call about an accident sometimes for instance the parent will then tell you something completely different to what the a&e report does.

sharonthewaspandthewineywall · 13/08/2015 07:42

What I mean is you couldn't specifically prove that a phone call after an a&e attendance saved the child's life.

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 13/08/2015 07:52

Or you could go and see the practice nurse. Ours is very good

That potentially also gives a better outcome in that she will see your DC and I think all healthcare professionals agree that their more likely to pick up on issues if they see the child - plus they can assess the caregiver's demeanour and interaction with the child.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am not if the tin foil hat brigade who doesn't believe in any engagement but it should be worthwhile and meaningful engagement and HCP's should be very clear with caregivers as to what the outcome of non-engagement will be ie a referral to children's services

I worry about people reading threads like this and seeing that (allegedly) referrals could be made on the basis of non-engagement when their is no stated legal obligation to do so. It can mean that in some instances there is raised suspicion of the HV's motives and further non-engagement where it could be useful. Plus, HV's are notoriously over-stretched so I would like to see better early assessment of needs leading to meaningful contact (probably a visit or an attempt at one) rather than a blanket phone call - the value of which is totally debatable

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 13/08/2015 07:53

there

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 13/08/2015 07:57

Serious case reviews aren't just held if a child dies. They are also held if serious injury occurs. Here's the NSPCC link setting out their remit

A I've said, I've never read one that shows that a phone call has or would have lead to a material change in outcome.

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 13/08/2015 08:00

Aargh......they're FGS!

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