§ Lord Northbourneasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many health visitors are trained to offer advice and support to young parents and prospective parents in relation to the emotional 157WA needs of young children; and what proportion of all health visitors this represents. [HL656]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathCurrent specialist practice programmes leading to health visitor registration include components that help to prepare practitioners to support young families. These include providing counselling and support for individuals and carers and assessing, planning, providing and evaluating healthcare interventions to meet the health-related needs of individuals, families, groups and communities. New requirements for health visitor programmes specify emotional health and well-being and managing changes and transitions such as parenthood as part of the competence framework. Health visiting practice has a strong family focus and this is likely to be reflected in the theoretical and practical elements of most pre-registration courses.
Post-registration training needs are determined locally through skills auditing of teams against priority local needs and through the appraisal process. While a proportion of health visitors will have undergone additional training around the emotional needs of young children and provision of parenting support, there is no centrally held information on this.