Health visitor is a waste of time

[WhenSunnyGetsBlue]

A need a little rant.

I'm getting seriously wound up by my health visitor. I see absolutely no point in going to the appointments, she is completely incompetent.

The centre is a 40 minute walk away, so it takes a fair amount of effort to get there and back. It started when my daughter was 5 days old and I had to walk to the appointment with my stitches. I mean surely it's in the name Health 'visitor'.

At every appointment she has been useless with broken English. I find her incredibly patronising. She takes phonecalls during appointments, and is generally rude and judgy in my opinion.

I got a phonecall from her yesterday saying, "you've missed your appointment again" in a condescending voice. (For ref, the first appointment she cancelled, not me). I asked her what appointment. She hadn't notified me, no text, no letter. Nothing. She then said I had to attend an appointment today at 1pm (less than 24 h notice).

I know it's a little thing, but I really can't wait until we don't have to see her any more. What are other people's experiences? Am I being oversensitive? Anyway....I better wake my baby up from her nap to go this appointment now otherwise we will be in trouble for being late!

Not sure your advice is accurate, most HV & midwives are taught breast feeding support.

If all you want is to weigh the baby, order baby scales from Amazon, they’re around £20 so you can keep an eye on the growth of the child. I ordered them for my dd when she had a poor HV who was paranoid about the child’s weight.

However child was a nightmare to feed as he had many allergies which were not identified until he was much older. HV was no use at all in this as the GP was excellent.

Cut down on breast milk and introduce solids, at thee months! Tbh that is something a HV would say.

I say this as a retired health visitor. Stop going to appointments and tell her that should she want to see you she can visit you. Have standard's really gone down this far?

@DragonFly98 actually none of the HVs I saw (I had a team rather than a named one) actually said anything like that at all.
The team actually put on classes about weaning - and they never recommended 3 months.
(as I have said it was my error in miss reading and thinking the OPs baby was 5 months)

You do not need to see a HV! Just politely decline and be done!

I'd be tempted to feed back to the manager too!

Just to let you know you can get a form of preeclampsia post delivery called HELLP syndrome that can be life threatening. I know I would want to be checked to make sure that I was ok. Wonder what they thought of you. You sound delightful. You all wonder why they cannot recruit staff, your comments display the contempt in which you treat health professionals.

@Whatafliberty Thanks, that was something that surprised me. I didn't expect to have to walk to see the midwife with all my stitches still in a couple of days after being discharged. It just didn't seem right. I actually had a little cry when I got home from that one because I was bleeding through on the way back. Not great.

This appointment wasn't terrible, it just felt like a complete waste of time. I was already wound up after she tried to shame me for missing an appointment when it was her error, and then to summon me with less than 24h notice. I told her it would be our last appointment.

I'm sure it depends on the area, but judging by the comments on this thread it is really hit and miss. My maternity care was so good and it was a complete shock when I was transferred to postnatal care.

I don't think the HV is a good use of tax payers money. My GP has been fantastic, but I have no confidence in the HV and as others have said would not think of going to them if I had any questions. I don't think this HV was a nurse/midwife with specialist training.

I’ve only met one who was at all useful. The rest were utterly useless.

Why did you go? They’re not compulsory. I only went once with my second child.

Stop spreading nonsense.
NHS:
"HELLP syndrome is a rare liver and blood clotting disorder that can affect pregnant women."

Only case a woman can have post delivery preeclempsia is when it was missed during pregnancy and it got worsen during delivery but went unnoticed as many signs overlap with labour (pain, being dizzy, elevated BP etc.).
Source?
Obgyn head physician specialized in hypertention and preeclempsia who monitored me in hospital.
But no "nhs angel midwifes" know the best ffs woman.

I had two very good health visitors - when they used to visit you. One who spent nearly an hour talking about her wedding (I was strangely never available for an appointment again) and one who was quite rude so I advised her I wouldnt need to see ger again. Its awful when you're at such a vulnerable point and someone is not only not helpful but critical. You did the right thing.

Ah it's sad to see so many people had negative experiences. I had crippling pregnancy anxiety and they were quite concerned about how I would present post birth. So, I had a HV come daily for 3 weeks. She was warm, kind, reassuring and a huge source of support to me. She gave me confidence and I will be eternally grateful for her support

You can not become a health Visitor unless you are a registered nurse or midwife and have completed a specialist degree in addition to obtain what is titled the SCPHN qualification. It is a shame so many people have negative experiences of the health visiting service. I can only assume it is due to a variation within different locality trusts. The health visitors role is actually very complex and is largely taken up by child protection and safe guarding. The mandated contacts offered from birth to 5 are set out by the Department of health and aim to provide support and guidance around maternal mental health, developmental screening and assessments, breastfeeding support and assessment of health needs and much more. This is reflected in the High Impact Areas something linked to the public health agenda to improve outcomes for the population and is all evidence based. Of course some questions are asked as way to document the professional has given specific advice for example where does baby sleep etc ties in with SIDS and safe sleep guidance. If these things were not addressed and something were to happen then there would be potential for failure to provide safe information.

Unless you have social care input then seeing the health visitor is not mandatory so just tell her you don’t want to see her anymore 🤷‍♀️

My experience of HVs was mainly negative. They were convenient for getting vaccinations, that was it. Mainly it was the attitude that put me off. Of the four I saw, three were rude and patronising, but a lack of anything but surface knowledge of subjects they presented themselves as experts on and which they were really directive about, did not build trust. Also, it didn’t help that our engagement seemed to be driven by a box-ticking agenda, presumable foisted on them, rather than a desire to see if they could be helpful to me as a mother or partner with me to ensure the best for my DC (and that’s probably what drives the attitude). They also missed my PND (despite me filling in all those bloody forms).

I think they’re in a fairly impossible position at the moment - sold as a service to mothers but in reality a way for the state to check for abuse. I found they caused a fair amount of stress for no real return and wouldn’t recommend them. This was 15 years ago, but they don’t seem to have improved since then.

I beg to differ I have nursed women post delivery with HELLP in HDU they usually present 72 hrs after delivery & it is classed as part preeclampsia disorders. Most were cared for hour by hour by midwives.
but obviously you know better. In the uk we have obstetricians.

And I wrote this was five days after delivery.
I was cleared from hospital as the obgyn lead thought I am safe and stable.
So no, it is not "I know better", but she was better educated than midwife to give oppinion.

I don't understand your "In the uk we have obstetricians" comment. Them and gynae are part of womens health team, led by one person so obgyn lead.

@RawBloomers Health Visitors don't do the vaccinations do they?
That's done by a nurse at your GPs usually.

I moved several times in the first 3 years. In one area, vaccinations were done at an special clinic by the HV team in a community centre of some sort. The next area the HV was attached to the GP surgery, HV drop ins were all at the GP surgery, I don’t recall the vaccinations there or who did them. By the time DC needed vaccinations again I’d moved again and turned down further HV involvement so just went to GP surgery anyway where a nurse administered them. These were all various parts of London. If it wasn’t common, maybe it was a pilot program of some type?

Exactly, I thought all HV visits were at your own home?

It presents at 72 hrs not finishes at 72hrs, so you obviously know more after 5 years of training 36 years working in the NHS . You would rather not be checked at 5 days I know I would be checked & be ok. We in the uk have an obstetic teams obgyn is an American term we don’t use in the uk.
people like you are the reason lots of us left the NHS the rudeness within a generation you will lose the skills of midwives because you know better. I pity the daughters of the future. The government are digging the grave of maternity care you are helping them dig.

Just stop going? I saw mine once after birth and the next appointment was a heir vaccination appointments at 8 and 12 weeks. Didn’t see any need in the weekly weigh ins that everyone seemed to rush to. It’s not mandatory and I had better things to do with my time

I really don't believe that you ever worked for NHS and if you did, god help us all with staff of such limited mental capacity.
Womens health team is made of obstetricians (birth) and gynechologist (all else). So yeah, obgyn is the full team at one hospital led by one person (that can have either of these specializations).
You don't use obgyn for one person but it is correct term that can replace womens health as shorter for "obstetricians and gynechologists team".

Midwifes, like doctors, and people in all other professions, can be rally great in their job or really shit. Stop generalizing that all midwifes are some sort of never at fault angels.

Stop spewing such self-righteous rubbish.