Welcome to the July edition of the Health Visiting Blog

Health Visiting Programme

There was a further change to the HV Programme Team from July 1^st. Rowena Harvey has been given the opportunity to take up an exciting transformation post in adult services in CPFT so I’m sure you will join me in wishing her well. She has been a great member of the HV Programme Team and her boundless enthusiasm and expert clinical knowledge will be greatly missed.

So for the remainder of this year until end March 16 the team will be myself (very part time) and Sue Mills who will be working full time. We are also recruiting to a half time Programme Support Post.

Our main priority will be to support We will continue to work closely with all of you to deliver our main priority – supporting the delivery of the particular aspects of the HEE mandate as detailed below:

2.8. HEE will continue to commission sufficient health visitor training places across the country to provide the right number of qualified staff in the right place at the right time. Specifically, HEE will:

continue to work closely with NHS England (and from October 2015, with Public Health England and local authorities) to ensure that workforce planning and commissioning of training for 2016/17 reflects commissioning of health visitor services, so as to facilitate sustainable development of the workforce;

seek to further reduce attrition rates from training programmes; and

with NHS England (until October 2015) and service providers, support transition of newly qualified health visitors into employment, and retention of the current workforce, by providing access to continuing professional development programmes nationally and locally, including opportunities in preceptorship and supervision development.

2.9. Working with Public Health England and local authorities, HEE will support the smooth transfer of commissioning of health visiting services to local authorities from 1 October 2015

June 29^th Nursery Nurses to Health Visitors Day.

On 29^th June we invited all 12 of our Nursery Nurse to Health Visitor students and their managers to a workshop at Victoria House Fulbourn.

The agenda consisted of presentations on the story so far by Julia Whiting, Fundamental Review of Pre-registration Nurse Education by Sally Ashton-May and a Review of Health Visiting by Rowena Harvey and Sue Mills and two workshops.

Where did it all start in 2012?

There was a lot of focus on health visiting through ‘a call to action’ and a worry about the lack of a career pathway for community nursery nurses (CNN) and the impact through increasing health visitor posts at the expense of other team members.

A very speedy proposal was put forward for a four year salary supported programme for up to eighteen CNNs working as a part of health visiting teams across the East of England

Twelve candidates were successfully recruited that met our (strict) criteria, spread across most organisations and attending 5 universities – ARU, UEA, UCS, UoE, UoB. All 12 are still here – VERY WELL DONE

Where are we now and what’s next?

The pre registration student nurses are about to complete their nurse training and will become student health visitors from September 2015 to complete in September 2016.

There are really useful lessons to be learnt from this programme that will inform the Health Education East of England Fundamental Review of Pre-Registration Nurse Education.

We are happy to release our Excellence in Practice – Health Visiting Case Studies Booklet

This can be found under resources on our webpage

https://heeoe.hee.nhs.uk/health_visitor_programme

HEEoE is holding its Annual Quality and Education Training Awards 2015 – Nominate Now!

The awards applaud innovation, excellence, leadership and impressive achievements across all healthcare students, trainees and professionals in our region.

This year’s categories are:

Trainee/Student Research Paper of the Year
Educator of the Year
Trainee/Student Educator of the Year
Trainee/ Student Quality Improvement Project of the Year
Trainee/Student Leader of the Year

Please can you consider nominating students, CPTs, Mentors and Educators.

Find out more and nominate now at :

Heeoe.hee.nhs.uk/QETAwards

East of England NHS Leadership Recognition Awards

The NHS Leadership Recognition Awards celebrate leaders at all levels and across all professions who have ultimately improved people’s health, the public’s experience of the NHS and who we are truly proud to work alongside.

This year’s categories are:

NHS Board / Governing Body of the Year
NHS Leader of Inclusivity of the Year
NHS Development Champion of the Year
NHS Innovator of the Year
NHS Leadership Recognition Award for Outstanding Collaborative Leadership
NHS Patient Champion of the Year
NHS Mentor / Coach of the Year
NHS Emerging Leader of the Year
NHS Inspirational Leader of the Year

Nominate now

Nominations close 7th September 2015

The inaugural Meeting of iHV East of England Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions Network was held at the University of Hertfordshire in June. Unfortunately due to difficulties in publicising the event only a small number of people were able to attend although there was extensive discussion and sharing of information. All those present were very committed to the idea of a Regional Network.

If you are interested in joining the Network please contact Denise on d.knight@herts.ac.uk or 07908 512407.

The next meeting is planned for Tuesday 20th October at 10.30am in Heron Court, Ida Darwin, Fulbourn, Cambridge CB21 5EE. Please contact Denise Knight d.knight@herts.ac.uk or 07908 512407 to confirm your attendance for catering purposes.

Useful Information

FGM Awareness – Letter from Jane Ellison Minister for Public Health

Dear All

Jane Ellison, Minister for Public Health, has sent a letter to all NHS Trust Chief Executives, Directors of Public Health and Chairs of CCGs across England, which she has asked to be shared with staff. You can see the letter at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jane-ellison-writes-to-nhs-partners-about-fgm-summer-vigilance

Within the letter, the Minister highlights the need for extra vigilance across the NHS as we approach the school summer holidays, a time when female genital mutilation is often performed on young girls who are taken abroad for this purpose. She outlines the main ‘warning signs’ for NHS staff to look out for, and the range of support and training materials available. The letter of course reiterates FGM is illegal, and that safeguarding procedures must be followed every time there are concerns.

There is also a link to an article for The Guardian Health Professionals Network which she has written highlighting this letter: http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2015/jul/10/fgm-cutting-season-nhs-female-genital-mutilation

We hope you have also have seen coverage around some fantastic developments by some of our partners, including the publication of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists new guidance on FGM, and the NSPCC helpline providing an enhanced level of support to NHS professionals. Thank you to all who are working hard to keep the profile high and to increase awareness within health professionals.

Please continue to do all you can to raise awareness in your organisations and keep vigilance high during the school summer holidays. We would be pleased if you can share this letter with your networks, and colleagues, and use it in your discussions showing the commitment to this important work you’re all taking forward.

NMC Guidance encourages openness and honesty

When things go wrong patients should expect a face to face explanation and apology from nurses, midwives and doctors according to new guidance we have developed together with the General Medical Council (GMC).

The duty of candour guidance also makes clear that professionals need to have the support of an open and honest working environment where they are able to learn from mistakes and feel comfortable reporting incidents that have led to harm.

You can read the guidance on our website, where there are also case studies to help nurses and midwives understand how to put the duty into practice.

Please share the guidance and case studies with your colleagues.

Useful Publications

Shaping and securing the future children’s public health workforce: a briefing for LAs on the role of Health Education England and Local Education and Training Boards

Local authorities (LAs) take on commissioning all Healthy Child Programme 0-5yrs services from October 2015. They will then commission all public health services for children and young people 0-19yrs. These services are led and delivered by qualified and regulated health staff – nurses, health visitors, family partnership nurses and school nurses. Additionally, LAs are involved in commissioning/joint commissioning for service integration across a number of services. LAs will wish to be involved in shaping and securing the future workforce. This briefing sets out the role and responsibilities of Health Education England and its Local Education and Training Boards in educating the health workforce.

See link below for details and further information.

HEE factsheet