Health Visitor said we’ll be social distancing for 6-12months!

[Lou0808]

We had a catch up with our health visitor today.

We were discussing our next appointment which she said will be in 6 months time.
She said “as things stand it will be another telephone appointment, we anticipate social distancing to be in place for at least the next 6 months, maybe even 12”

I don’t know what I was expecting but I really didn’t think social distancing would be happening for that long.

I’m not sure how I feel about everything at the minute.
So many people are acting as though things are almost normal; and the risk is low.

Others still seem to be staying behind closed doors and living in fear.

I’m definitely behind the closed door 😔

I'm not convinced the HV has any insider information......

Must have missed the briefing that told us that random Health Visitors are making policy.

Maybe different for different areas. Obviously countries are all at other stages and restriction lifting.

Have you got concerns about baby?

I would imagine as their jobs are home visits, they will be doing none of this until theres some sort of guarantee they are safe and not spreading anything as they can see lots of different women in a day.

To be fair, the HV probably has as much authority among the British public now as Boris Johnson

Who is "we"? Are they a government decison making "we"?

My HV said the other day our next appointment, in September is likely to be in person - so I don’t think they have a clue!

Your HV knows as much as I do i.e nothing

To be fair, they don't have any insider information. However it has been made very clear by the goverment that social distancing will be apart of our lives for a long time yet. So honestly I wouldn't be surprised. They will have to give some leeway such as seeing families etc, but shops, appointments and all the rest I wouldn't be surprised if we were subjected to the 2 metre rule for the rest of this year and going into 2021.

Honest to God. Most HV are crap at their own job, let alone anyone else's.

If you'd been following the science or even the briefings you'd have as much idea as her or anyone else.

It's simply a 'wait & see' for everyone. No one knows how well
People will choose to behave and break the transmission chains. The more self restraint & sense people have now The sooner things will be better.

It's a shame people don't understand the maths re the rate of infection.

Health visitors aren't coronavirus experts, nor do they have insider access to government decision making. She's just doing what many do - state What They Think Will Happen with an air of confidence. No one knows yet!

I expect 2m rule to apply as often as possible for a while, possibly facemasks and definitely more proper handwashing going forward.

I don't expect grandparents being unable to hug grandchildren, or schools to continue part time for as long because the benefit of the contact will be worth the risk (when the risk is smaller).

But where it can be done it should be done, such as queues at supermarkets, some working from home and some telephone appointments.

To be honest I think in roles such as HV, where they make contact with so many different people on a daily basis it would make sense for them to work as remotely as possible to lessen the risk of them carrying it to homes of more at risk people.

Just because their policy would be to maintain distancing, does not mean that will or won’t be commonplace elsewhere.

With the best will in the world what would a health visitor know that the government scientists don't?

I think the HV was managing your expectations iyswim.

Surely she was just repeating what her bosses have told her, ie the local health service? Completely reasonable to think she's got "inside" knowledge in that sense.

But if other areas' HVs are saying contradictory things, maybe that means different areas or individual bosses are predicting different things?

ANd yet - working in scrub supply - we are told by internal NHS sources demand will increase from July onwards as they start doing more home visits again for DN, therapists and HVs

My HV came to the house for my antenatal visit a few weeks ago and assured us about wearing PPE when she comes back once baby is born. It seems to be different in different areas.

In the press briefing on 22 April, Prof Chris Whitty said that the UK will need to socially distance until at least the end of the year.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/22/uk-will-need-social-distancing-until-at-least-end-of-year-says-whitty

I've not heard anything different since then.

I think social distancing will be the norm until a vaccine or herd immunity kicks in so potentially years. It's a depressing thought. I don't think the government just wants to say it'll be years so they'll eke it out. I think that's why they've changed the advice re: shielders going out for exercise the risk has lessened but the damage done by being isolating at home might out weigh the risk of the virus.

We have veen told we arent going back to the office until new year.....at the very least. And even when we do, only half will be.

I think most businesses/service providers are planning for it to be long term, in some form or other.

That’s impressive. You’re HV must have a second job working in high places.

The modelling the NHS are using for the purpose of planning service delivery is predicting that services won't get back to normal until the middle of next year. This is on the assumption a vaccine is approved in the autumn and rolled out to people. Until there is a vaccine, social distancing will need to continue.

The HV will just be repeating what she's been advised by her trust, obviously she won't know for certain.

The way services deliver appointments will vary by area, as each trust will make its own decisions on the best way of working to keep people safe. PPE will be in more demand than ever once more services start to operate, so face to face appointments will only be done if the trust thinks they are a priority.

When the HV said 'we' she may have been following instructions given by her management. Of course her managers don't know any more than the rest of us, but they must be making plans.

I work in the public sector and my managers are making plans and developing policies, even though the timelines are unclear.

The NHS has to decide how they are going to deliver services for the long term.This planning happens regardless taking into account many variable staffing sickness bad weather and in these challenging time Covid19.

In my geographical area they and midwifery community services are planning social distanced interventions will be in place until the end of the year, this may change dependant on many variables.

This takes into account the scientific information provided by local authorities epidemiology and public health and the central government .

Most health visitors have a masters in Public Health and are well able to understand health epidemiology - but as others have said she is probably updating her clients with the likely plan is at this stage.So that clients are able to access the service but also be aware of the limitations ie possibly no home visit.

So this will be the local nhs plan not just a random comment.

IncrediblySadToo Health visitors are highly skilled educated practitioners most with five years nurse training a first degree and masters. They work with some of the most deprived and vulnerable children and families and make a real difference .I have never met a crap one-I will presume you are simply a health visitor basher.

( I am not a health visitor but have worked closely with lots of them and the vast majority of their incredibly valuable work goes unnoticed and of course they are currently frontline workers as they deliver their service to the most vulnerable in these dark days .)

I think they are trying to be sensible and pre-empt. If things improve, they can restart appointments :)

Their timing does seem realistic though tbh op. We've already been 5told the rest of 2020.