To ask where all these mythical HVs are?

[MrsMcW]

I have seen at least 4 threads today where mumsnetters have recommended the OP talk to her health visitor. And not just for babies, children of all ages.

Who and where are these mythical health visitors with their bounteous wisdom? I met mine ONCE after DS was born. She never turned up for the 6 week check. My local child health clinic has also closed down, so I can't go a-questing for one there.

Am I alone in this?

There is a local team here, and has been the same in the last two places I’ve lived. Cities and villages

They have mandatory visits/checks which I think are 2 weeks, 8 weeks 10 months and 2-2.5 Yr check.
Here they also do a pre-birth visit.
Our service now offers appointment based weigh in visits rather than drop in.
A pp mentioned they are now 0-17 that's not strictly true the service tends to be 0-18 there will be specialist health visitors for the under 5s and then school nurses for any child (in school or not) over 5.

HV's have been cut by 50% with all the ending cuts to local authority budgets so now mostly just do safeguarding. More like social workers than nurses these days.

A couple of years ago, one of the HVs in my area told me that their numbers had been reduced to 6 from 18, and that 2 of those posts were vacant. This was at a child protection conference, so bears out what you say about safeguarding.

I was shocked when a vulnerable 18 year-old new mum, living in emergency accommodation, only got one visit from the HV (when the baby was 6 weeks old). She hadn't even had the basics explained to her, like how to claim child benefit and healthy start vouchers, and was struggling to breast feed. She was in bits.

There was a community-run project in the area for young families, and they were brilliantly supportive, she had have been fucked without them.

Mine came for monthly visits for the 8 months after I adopted my DS, and signposted every other way I could get in touch with her or another HV if I needed to for any reason. There's also a weekly clinic a 30 second walk from me. They've been nothing short of brilliant.

Their checks arent mandatory. You dont have to see a HV at all if you dont want to.

I saw the HV at 38 weeks pregnant, when DS was 12 days old, she phoned me when he was a few weeks old and saw we her again at 6 weeks. I’ve taken him to be weighed every 4-6 weeks and one of the team has always been available for advice and support. At about 20 weeks I flagged that my mood hadn’t been great to one of the HVs and my main HV called me soon after and arranged to see me every week for a few weeks (it was meant to be 6 but it was getting a bit difficult to arrange as I felt much better going out and getting on with stuff). She called the Drs surgery and made sure I was getting the right support and was generally very helpful. I can’t fault them at all tbh.

Sorry BobbycatI probably worded that wrong. I meant they are the checks that they are mandated to offer to parents. They are the minimum service you would expect.
I was referring to the health visitor service rather than the child/parents

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/baby-reviews/#when-your-baby-will-have-their-reviews

Anything additional will depend on need and capacity in each area and unfortunately health visiting is underfunded and under resourced due to central government cuts

The levels of service vary and in some areas they are very stretched. Numbers are falling.

The mandatory visits are antenatal, within 14 days, six to eight weeks, one year and 2-2.5 years

HV are so stretched and because of this, often they need to focus their attention on children at risk. I work in a professional capacity with health visitors and I cannot fault them. They are often working with very little resources and huge caseloads. In those circumstances, they need to prioritise who they see. Instead of blaming them blame austerity.

My HV wants to see me fairly often as I have depression/anxiety. I’m glad she’s nice, as I’ve had a couple that weren’t at all.

When we were living in grotty temporary housing for homeless families while waiting for social housing she said we were “waiting for a mansion” and said to my baby “you just want mummy to feed you real food don’t you” when I said that SOME of his food was jars.

So when I see “ask your HV” I just hope the OP has a lovely one like the one I’ve got now and not the snide bitch kind (those are the only two types I’ve seen lol).

In my area we have a Facebook page which gives lists of clinic days.

They’re every week usually and you can drop in.

Obviously there are a lot of inconsistencies unfortunately

Saw HV about 3 times at home and twice in a clinic. Nearest clinic is a doctor's surgery 10 minutes walk away. There is a clinic every working day in my area I can go to if I need to, but there are other resources for those having difficulties as the playgroups run by the churches and others keep an eye out for parents in difficulty.

I work as an HV and I can't speak for other areas but we prioritise the antenatal, newbirth visit and 6-8 week visit. Beyond that we visit those who need us most. That doesn't mean we always get it right and some get picked up down the line that need support via nursery or GP. We always call people back the same say if possible. We are very stretched at present as not enough HVs are trained to replace the ones leaving.