Health visiting

About the service

Our health visiting teams work with families, early years, health colleagues and other agencies to support the health and wellbeing of pre-school children across Herefordshire.

Health visitors are qualified nurses or midwives who have additional training in specialist community and public health nursing. They have specialist training in children's development and health promotion.

The Health Visiting teams comprise health visitors, community staff nurses, and community nursery nurses. As a service, we are committed to supporting the training of students, so students may accompany us during visits. If you would prefer for a student not to be present, please inform your health visitor.

The service provides information, advice, and support to pregnant women, expectant fathers, and parents/carers of new babies and young children. This includes advice on child health/development, maternal and family health, emotional wellbeing, sleep, crying, feeding, and much more.

What we offer

Our health visiting team will be in touch with you at various stages of your pregnancy and after your baby is born. This includes:

• During your pregnancy for an antenatal contact between 28-32 weeks
• Between day 10-14 for a new birth visit
• 6-8 weeks after your baby is born
• Between 4-6 months for a "Time to Shine" dental and weaning contact with the Community Nursery Nurse
• Between 9-12 months for a development review by our Community Nursery Nurses
• Between 2-2.5 years for a development review by our Community Nursery Nurses

Health visiting clinics

Our health visiting teams run health visiting clinics open to parents and carers of children under 5 years old. These clinics offer the opportunity to discuss any concerns about your child's health or development and have them weighed.

The clinics are a mix of booked appointments and drop-in sessions. If you would like to book a health visiting clinic appointment, please call our health visitor advice line at 07870 682711.

Health visiting clinics dates and locations - find out more.

Health visitor advice line

The health visitor advice line provides parents/carers of 0-5 year olds in Herefordshire with advice from the health visiting team about a child’s health or development.

Parents and carers can seek advice on a wide range of topics such as breastfeeding, bottle feeding, sleep, toileting, behavior, eating, minor injuries/ailments, parenting support, and much more.

The health visitor advice line is managed by a Health Visitor and runs Monday-Friday 9am-4pm (excluding bank holidays and weekends). If you leave a message outside of these hours, we will respond within one working day. If it's the weekend or a bank holiday, we will respond on the next working day.

Call 07870 682711 for support from a health visitor.

The health visitor advice line is not an emergency service. For urgent medical attention and advice, please contact your GP, 111, or 999.

Please follow the Herefordshire Health Visitors on Facebook for up-to-date service information and advice.

Helpline contact numbers

Breastfeeding support:

National Breastfeeding Helpline: 0300 100 0212, La Leche League: 0345 120 2918, National Childbirth Trust (NCT): 0300 330 0700

Domestic Abuse Support:

National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247 (24 hours), The Men's Advice Line for male domestic abuse survivors (Respect): 0808 801 0327, National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline (Galop): 0800 999 5428, Women's Aid: 0800 783 1359

Mental Health Support:

Herefordshire Mental Health Support Line (24 hours): 0808 196 9127

Drug and Alcohol Support:

Turning Point Hereford: 0300 555 0747, Alcoholics Anonymous National Helpline: 0800 9177 650

Child Safeguarding:

To find out information about child safeguarding and contact details, visit our child safeguarding website page.