Health Visiting Service
The Health Visiting Service is currently available Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00.
If you have any urgent medical concerns then please phone your GP or NHS Direct on 111.
To contact your Health Visiting team please phone The Derbyshire Family Helpline on 01246 515100.
Health Visitors are not based in GP Surgeries.
Health visitors can offer advice on the following topics:
- Nutrition
- Growth and Development
- Hearing/Vision/Speech
- Child Safety and Well Being
- Behaviour and Sleep Problems
- Toilet Training
- Family Health
- Family Planning
- Post Natal Depression
- Women's Problems
- Smoking Cessation
- Continence
- Promoting Independent Living for Older People
We can also refer you to other sources of help as necessary.
Health Visitors are experienced trained Nurses who have undertaken further extensive training in order to enable them to be Specialist Community Practitioners.
The Health Visitor is a member of the Primary Health Care Team, which also includes other professionals such as your GP, Practice Nurse, District Nurse, Midwife and in many surgeries, Pharmacists.
They give advice and support in matters relating to physical/social and emotional well-being primarily to under 5 year olds and their main aim is to ensure that each individuals full health potential is reached.
They are concerned particularly with preventative care and early identification of needs.
The Health Visiting Service
The Health Visitor visits 0-5 year olds regularly and all new babies, not only to check on general development but also to advise on safety, immunisation, behaviour problems, feeding advice and other health and development issues.
They also run well-baby clinics where they are available to offer advice on feeding, parenting as well as checking weight gain. Health Visitors do not work in isolation, but can refer specific problems to members of the team or to other professionals for example: Speech Therapists, Psychologists, Social Workers etc.
Health Visitors aim to provide families with the necessary information to enable them to make informed choice about their health and well-being and to work in partnership with them to achieve this.
Health Visitors have statutory responsibilities to help protect children and occasionally child protection procedures may need to be implemented. However, they aim to work in an open and honest way with families to help resolve difficulties.