Tell us about your health visitor experience

Read this article and other North East Lincolnshire Council news on North East Lincolnshire Council’s news page.

Parents who are familiar with the Council’s Health Visiting service will know that the team have had to change the way that they work during the pandemic, to make sure that families continued to receive the appropriate support.

The team are now asking parents who have interacted with the service during the coronavirus pandemic to come forward and share their experiences.

Social media engagement, virtual appointments, ChatHealth secure text messaging, the suspension of baby clinics and breastfeeding groups, and the use of PPE, are examples of some of the changes made to the service during the pandemic.

Councillor Margaret Cracknell, portfolio holder for health, wellbeing and adult social care, explained: “Many of our services had to make tremendous changes to the way that they delivered services during this pandemic, and now we are at a stage where we can review many of these changes and look at how they have worked for families.

“This process is about finding out how many of the changes we put in place were received by families. How useful did parents and families find the telephone and virtual appointments? Was the guidance on these virtual meetings easy to understand? Have parents engaged with the team over social media during the pandemic?

“These are the things we want to find out, and the responses will help us to shape how we continue to deliver our services.”

The Health Visiting service is available to all families in North East Lincolnshire who are expecting a baby, have a new born or a child up to the age of 5. A health visitor is a registered nurse or midwife and have been trained in public health; they provide advice and support at this important time for parents and their child.

To take part in the short consultation, visit www.nelincs.gov.uk/have-your-say.

Usually, paper copies of the consultation would be available at local libraries and Grimsby’s Customer Access Point. However due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are instead offering a telephone and postal option if required. If you need to ask any questions, would like a survey posting to you or want to complete the survey via telephone, call 01472 323660 or send an email to clinical.governance@nelincs.gov.uk.