Health Visiting – Warrington

General introduction

Our health visiting service is delivered by specialist community public health nurses who lead and coordinate the universal Healthy Child Programme, providing expert assessments, advice, support and interventions for children and families in the crucial early years of life.

Working with families from pregnancy to school entry

Health visitors sit at the heart of children’s services and work closely with parents and carers from the antenatal period until a child starts school.

The team encourages and supports parents and carers to develop lifelong skills, helping them make informed choices that support their child’s future health and wellbeing.

All families are offered an initial family health needs assessment, which ensures your child’s care plan is centred on their individual needs. This assessment helps you and your health visitor decide what level of health visiting support is right for your family.

Levels of health visiting support

Your community

Health visitors have information about a wide range of local health services, including family hubs, GPs and dentists.

They also deliver drop‑in family health clinics / baby clinics in community settings, offering easy access to timely information, advice and support. These clinics are accessible for prams and wheelchairs.

Universal

A universal health visiting service is offered to all children aged 0 to 5 years and their families.

Health visiting teams coordinate and deliver the Healthy Child Programme, working with you to assess your child’s health and development. This helps identify any concerns early so your child can receive the right support.

Universal Healthy Child Programme contacts include:

antenatal contact
new birth visit at 10 to 14 days
6 to 8 week contact
3 to 4 month contact
child health review by 1 year
child health review by 2.5 years

Targeted support

A rapid response from your health visiting team if you need specific expert help with issues such as feeding, parenting, sleep or postnatal depression.

Specialist support

If your child’s needs are more complex, your health visitor can help bring together local services to support you, your child and your family.

You will be fully involved in planning this support, including understanding what will happen and who is responsible.

Our local offer for children

Health visitors support all children and young people, including those with additional health needs, to achieve well throughout their lives. They keep children and families at the centre of care, providing early help and support when it is needed most.

How to access this service

Drop-in sessions

Please feel free to drop in and speak to a health visitor or one of our team.

You can have your baby / child weighed and ask any questions you may have about their health and development.

View our drop-in sessions.

The service accepts referrals by telephone, email or face to face from:

midwifery services
GPs and other professionals
parents and carers (self‑referral)
other statutory and voluntary agencies

Useful information

Specialist support for children with additional needs

Health visitors are supported by a team of nurses and support staff who are skilled in identifying health needs early and delivering key health messages to improve your child’s health and wellbeing.

If your child’s needs are more complex, your health visitor can play a key role in bringing together local services to support you, your child and your family.

You will be fully involved in planning this support, with every opportunity to share what you would like from the services involved. A clear plan will be created so you know what will happen and who is responsible.

Health visiting teams will always make sure the service they offer is accessible. Your health visitor can visit you at a time and in a venue that meets your child’s needs.

Early years services

The team works with all early years services across Bridgewater’s areas to:

promote secure attachment and bonding, positive maternal mental health and parenting skills using evidence‑based assessments and effective interventions
lead and coordinate the Healthy Child Programme, delivering a comprehensive universal preventative health service for children aged 0 to 5 years, including:
- promoting breastfeeding and safe sleep
- preventing childhood obesity
- improving school readiness
- providing accident‑prevention education
- offering advice and support on immunisations
identify developmental and complex health needs early, referring on for investigation, diagnosis, treatment and support
work in partnership with other key stakeholders to safeguard and protect infants and young children at risk of harm

Healthy Start

If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, you may be entitled to help with buying healthy food and milk.

If you’re eligible, you’ll receive a Healthy Start card with money added to it every four weeks. You can use this card in participating UK shops to buy: