If you have moved county/area, were you contacted by your new GPs health visiting service ?(Daniel pPlka related)

[Owllady]

I noticed that Daniel Pelka case it has been noted that Coventry had the lowest number of Health visitors in the country (though this has now doubled)

I have moved county twice since my eldest were tiny. The initial area we lived in we had a HV but I moved when the children were 4 & 2 and I didn't have another health visitor until 4 years later when I had my youngest, despite the fact the 4 yr old had significant developmental delays. The HV was fleeting and we just saw her a couple of weeks following the birth.

I moved area again when the youngest was 2 and the others were 8 and 10. I have never seen a HV at all here. Infact, despite my eldest being a 'child in need' I was willfully ignored by social services for a whole year, then imo neglected for a further year. My eldest is a child in need due to severe disability, not neglect or abuse, but she is an extremely vulnerable individual and I do find it shocking it isn't followed up when you move.

I just wondered what other peoples experiences of moving counties were and whether you were ever followed up by professionals?

My dd is 8, i'm guessing yours is 5? I think the age difference might explain it, i'm sure they phased out the 2 yr check. Is your GP no help Nicetabard? I think that my GP's practice is particularly good, which might explain the good service I have had, i know our previous GP's was useless.

She just turned 4 bless her! GP was who I got the referral from, been trying and trying to chase for ages but not getting anywhere.

Actually DD1 also has an ongoing thing and she has had great treatment so think it's maybe a lack of funding in that particular service.

Definitely round here you need to seek help rather than be found IYSWIM - DD1 older and we never got a 2yr check for her either. I suspect they are concentrating money on serious cases probably. Certainly the whole concept of knowing who "your" HV is, or "your" GP is quite alien in this neck of the woods.

I moved from Derbyshire to West Yorkshire, registered with the gp including saying that I needed a health visitor for 1 year old Ds. Been here 14 months now and have just seen a health visitor but only because we now have a 3 week old as well.

Had a call from my old hv a couple of weeks ago about ds1's 2 year check! I'd been a regular at the hv run stay, play and weigh so am surprised that we were 'missed' sooner.

Judging by how we've stayed in contact but been missed I'd imagine it'd be pretty easy to deliberately disappear.

We moved and a couple of weeks after I registered with the GP the HV got in touch and came out to meet us.
She was lovely but I do wonder if you don't register with a GP then you could avoid being checked up on by a HV entirely.

There's only so much that HCP can do to keep track on at risk children. Sadly if you are abusing your child then there are probably lots of things you can do to avoid the system IYSWIM. :(

You obviously have no experience of the systems I am up against Erebus . When I moved my precious council contacted this one to tell them I was moving with an extremely vulnerable child, a 'child in need'. I rang social services myself, I was told they were not taking any more cases on (!!) I rang and rang and rang. I was eventually visited by a social worker who dismissed me/us quite frankly, and it took 2 years to get any kind of care package in place. My child meets eligibility criteria A;

Child requires regular physical restraint, behaviour regularly injurious to self or others, requires night-time supervision. Child has physical impairment requiring handling in hoists for all transfers, unable to dress, toilet, bathe or feed themselves. Child with complex medical needs requiring frequent night-time attention for medication, turning and / or intubation

A substantial amount of support is needed to meet siblings’ essential care needs

^Essential care needs of the disabled child prevents parents from attending to any sibling’s essential needs for extended periods of time. Or family is in receipt of assistance in respect of siblings’ care needs at
Band A or B^.

^Parents / carers mental or physical health requires substantial support
to enable them to meet their child’s essential needs and / or there is a
substantial risk of family breakdown^

Substantial provision of services required to ensure parents / carers provide adequate parental care

Parenting capacity seriously affected by mental health, disability, medical issues, serious stress. Other major care responsibilities e.g. another member of the household who has significant disabilities

I was registered with a GP, school, paedatrician etc. but we were completely ignored by social services despite being labelled as we were/are. My child is at significant more risk of abuse of everyone, I don't think she should have been ignored at all, let alone how she was. I do want to know how many people this happens to.

A direct response for the D Pelka review has identified a health professional (HV) should have contacted the family. It's not a nanny state, it's following up basic protocol surely? I don't think current financial constraints have anything to do with it either. The whole system is there to protect children, not to conspire against them.

I resent the implication that you believe I should 'appertain' for my own family, I do. I do far and above what most parents do (with 'normal' children) and I have sacrificed my own life and career in order to care for my child (it's ok my husband is a high rate tax payer) and it's a 24/7 job, and includes way too much chasing up of people

I really hate autocorrect, precious should be previous and so on and why doesn't the ^^ work on everything!

I suppose my point is, if they willfully ignore people who do require support, quite obviously. I really can't see how any kind of current system is working properly for any child. It's easy to sit and judge when you have no experience of it, it's a bit more difficult when every day is a battle and I don't and wouldn't abuse my children, but if it's so easy to just move around without being followed up, surely it is easier to do so and disappear

Compulsory checks aren't the answer.
Children can be seen frequently by HCPs and still abuse happens. As a HV I try to visit families regularly if I suspect children are neglected and possibly abused, or mother is a victim of domestic violence.
Mostly there's nothing I can do about it because my concerns fell below social services child protection referral threshold, and if parents don't want SS involvement or support from other agencies they don't have to accept it.
So I'm the only one seeing the child and it's easy for parents to put on a show because visits are always by appointment at a time convenient to them.
I've heard it said that parents accept visits from HVs because they are seen as non stigmatising, but I wonder if its because they are powerless and ineffectual

I'm not sure I'm advocating compulsory checks per se, but that not registering your child at a GP practice, or with a HV, or in an Early Years setting, becomes something to investigate further - there is no way a parent should be able to kill through neglect, then house a dead child for two years, without someone somewhere asking a question.

But I take what you say about the threshold for child protection referrals, how completely frustrating for the HV profession and that's something of much concern, and no doubt a funding issue.

I'd like to think that HVs being seen as non-stigmatising is a really positive thing and enables many more people to access support where otherwise they might not, I know I was really grateful for mine. I guess we have to face the reality that some abusers will always slip through the net, but not sure it's a viable reason for parents to be able to disappear off the records during the most crucial stages of child development.

I have never seen a HV,so no.

actually scratch that,i did see one when i had dc1,but when we moved down south we didnt register with a gp so never saw one again,i have seen an nhs midwife though so im guessing im on some kind of nhs register somewhere,i dont have a medical card i know of though.

Just to say aswell,for those that dont know,when you do register with a doctor,there is a box on the form,that says "i agree to take part in child health surveillance" or something like that,if you dont tick that box then you are supposed to be saying you dont require a health visitor,but i have heard from people who say they didnt tick it but were still contacted anyway.

ringaringarosy - the bit about child health surveillance on the GP registration form hasn't got anything to do with the HV.
It only applies to the gp check i.e. the 6-8 baby check. GP gets paid for doing this and they need extra training to be able to offer it. They used to do a pre school check as well but I think that's been mostly stopped.

What a nasty spiteful little post from Erebus

Yes, moved over a county border and had a home visit in weeks, thought someone had called the social on me!

We moved from Oxfordshire to Hertfordshire when DS was 9 months old. We were not contacted, even though I informed our local HV in Oxfordshire that we were moving and gave them our new address. I got in touch with the HV in our new home on my own initiative just after moving.

As for the 'nappy state', I was surprised we weren't followed up. Its alarming how easy it is for a small child to vanish off the radar.

Ooppps . That's what I get for typing with a half a mind on potty training

I moved counties with my 2 DCs in May. I was contacted by a HV last week to arrange a visit. She had notification of our move from our new GPs surgery. I'm not sure what would have happened has we not registered with a doctor.

We moved when the dc were 8yr, 7yr, 3yr & 9mths. I received a letter inviting me for an appt with HV for dc4.

I made an appt. but then was ignored for 25 minutes despite being sat in the middle of an otherwise empty waiting area with a small child playing as the HV thought I wasn't coming.

The HV then turned out to be the woman who has walked past several times, smiled at us and even said good morning. There were no other clinics that morning. Kind of lost faith after that but was never invited for further check ups anyway