The Multidisciplinary Health Visiting Service based in the Downpatrick area have been ‘Highly Commended’ in the Team Category at the recent Community Practitioner and Health Visiting Association Annual Conference (CPHVA).
This national award from CPHVA (the professional body of UNITE the Union), recognises and rewards innovation and excellence in practice within a team approach to deliver services to patients and clients in Public Health Nursing.
The Team was selected ahead of others from across the UK, which is a testament to their commitment and dedication to the local community that they serve.
The Health Visiting Service follows the Department of Health, ‘Healthy Child, Healthy Future Framework’ which aims to improve the life chances for children and young people to ensure that every child in their care irrespective of race, gender, religious belief, age, sexual orientation, disability, background or circumstance. They work with smaller caseloads which allows them to offer additional support to the children and families in their area to ensure that every child gets the best possible start in life.
Lead Nurse, Helen Leigh commended her team and explained, “As part of the Multidisciplinary Team initiative in the Down GP Federation area, the Health Visiting Team received investment to increase the number of Health Visitors and support staff in the team.
“This investment has resulted in smaller caseload sizes to manage and has improved partnership working with other professions based within the GP surgeries. The increase in staff has also allowed the team to increase home visits with parents, as well as giving them the ability to offer antenatal contact to facilitate additional time to carry out listening support visits for mothers with mild postnatal depression and increase their capacity to work with parents who may be experiencing a wide range of issues.
“The initiative has been a great success with positive feedback from clients and staff, receiving this award is great recognition of the teams hard work.”
Nurse Manager for Children’s Services, Janet Taylor said, “This is a great achievement at national level for our team, to be selected ahead of others across the UK is very special indeed.
“I am very proud of the innovative approach and excellent service that the team continue to deliver to our clients in the local community.”
Image: The Multidisciplinary Health Visiting Team with their award.