Support from health visitors

What does the  Health Visiting service in Gloucestershire do?

We support all families with young children across the county.

Health Visitors are registered nurses or midwives with specialist additional qualifications in child, family and public health. Our role is to offer information and support to families through the early years, from pregnancy and birth to primary school. As a team, we are trained to identify developmental delays, health problems and social communication difficulties which may impact on your child’s development.   We can play a key role in bringing together local services that can support your child and family.

Your Health Visiting Journey

We’re here for you to provide support throughout your journey from your 28 week+ antenatal contact through to starting school age, not beyond five years old. If you are new to Gloucestershire we will see you to explain our service and find out how we can help you and your family.

We work in teams for a local community and will have extensive knowledge of your geographical area and its services and can help with:

• infant feeding advice;
• behaviour and sleep advice;
• toileting advice – see information on the new guide later in this article;
• developmental assessments including speech, physiotherapy, hearing and eyesight;
• early identification of social and communication difficulties;
• infant and maternal/paternal mental health; and
• provide support with infant relationships, healthy families, diet/weight and exercise.

Baby Hubs

We also provide over 40 Baby Hubs across the county.

Baby Hubs are drop-in sessions or appointments and provide relaxed settings for families to meet and chat with a member of the health visiting team and other parents and carers for advice and support. They provide an opportunity for you to meet with a member of the Health Visiting team for advice and support.

Please visit Gloucestershire's Local Offer, Support for Families with SEND – Health Visiting Pages or the Health Visiting Services in Gloucestershire directly to find a Baby Hub in your area.

Prioritise your child’s nine to twelve month and two-year developmental reviews

The developmental review is an opportunity to discuss and promote your child’s health and development and to identify children who are not developing as expected and who may need early additional support.

How to contact the Health Visiting team

You can contact the Health Visiting team by calling 0300 421 5080 (Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm).

NEW - Toilet training

Many families of children with additional needs contact us about toilet training and we have just uploaded a new, co-produced guide to potty training, which also links to ERIC (the national charity dedicated to improving children’s bowel and bladder health, which aims to reduce the impact of continence problems on children and their families).

Where a child’s Special Educational Needs  and Disability (SEND) affects their ability to be independent with toileting, Parent Carers can reasonably expect schools to provide appropriate support, so this does not prevent the child from starting Reception.

Although there is widespread media coverage about toileting expectations for children, SEND‑related needs must always be considered individually and with dignity

Parent Carers of children with additional needs can reasonably expect support with toileting and toilet training issues for their school-aged children from the school nursing service and their GP.  Firstly, it is important to visit the GP to rule out any constipation.  If your child is constipated, they will not be able to toilet train successfully and will need treatment to correct the constipation and prevent reoccurrence.  More information about constipation can be found in the bladder and bowel section on the school nursing service website along with lots of top tips and resources to help with toileting in general.

If once you have visited the school nursing website and found that none of this information is right for you, you can make a self-referral to the school nursing service using our referral form.  You will be sent an information pack and requested to complete fluid charts that are essential for us to complete a full assessment of your child’s needs.  The fluids charts will need to be returned to us before we can send you an appointment.  We will work with you and your child to address your personal needs and may suggest different treatment options.  If these options do not work for you we can make a referral to the specialist bladder and bowel care team at Gloucester Royal Hospital.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Health visitors are supported by a specialist team of public health nurses (PHNs) and community nursery nurses (CNNs), who are skilled in working with families and children who may present with specialist educational needs (SEND).

These nursing teams are trained to identify developmental delays and the early detection of health problems which may impact on your child’s development. 

The overall aim is not only to provide key health messages to improve health outcomes, but to provide early intervention and support for your child and family. If your child’s needs are more complex, your health visitor and PHN can play a key role in bringing together local services that can support your child and family. Our designated clinical officers (DCOs) provide a point of contact for local authorities, schools and colleges, who need advice or support about health for children and young people who have SEND. 

To see the other ‘handy guides’ on a range of topics, and for more information on Health Visiting, please visit Gloucestershire's Local Offer, Support for Families with SEND – Health Visiting Pages.

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