Health Visitor

Health visitors play an important role in promoting health and preventing illness. They work with people from all age groups, backgrounds and cultures in a range of community settings.

The work is varied but can include:

• advising parents of babies and young children on issues such as feeding, sleeping, safety, physical and emotional development and managing difficult behaviour
• advising elderly people and people with disabilities and long-term illnesses on issues such as diet, exercise and keeping warm and helping them to overcome problems they may face
• giving advice on a range of issues such as bereavement, family and relationship problems, post-natal depression, serious illness and disability and giving up smoking
• being aware of, and helping to find solutions for, issues such as poor hygiene, damp housing or inadequate heating that might lead to health problems
• coordinating immunisation programmes for children
• supporting programmes such as Sure Start, which aims to improve the health and emotional development of young children
• organising special clinics or drop-in centres for people with specific issues
• running health promotion groups.

Health visitors work closely with a range of other professionals such as GPs, district nurses, social workers, school nurses, occupational therapists and housing officers.

Full-time health visitors work 37.5 hours a week. Flexible hours and part-time work are often available. Health visitors work in a range of settings including people's homes, GP surgeries, health centres and in the community. A driving licence is usually required.

Salaries range from £25,472 a year for a newly-qualified health visitor to £40,157 a year for a team manager.

A health visitor should:

• work well with, and gain the trust of, people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures
• have excellent communication and listening skills
• be able to motivate people to make lifestyle changes
• work well alone and as part of a team
• be well organised and able to prioritise a varied workload.

There are around 22,000 health visitors registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Most work in the NHS (National Health Service) there may be some opportunities to work with voluntary organisations. There is a shortage of health visitors.

Health visitors must hold a degree or diploma recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), qualifying them in a branch of nursing or in midwifery and must register with the NMC before they are allowed to practise. From September 2013, all entrants to nursing will have to study for a degree.

There is more information in the Nurse and Midwife articles.

Nurses or midwives generally need two years post-qualifying experience before applying for a place on a specialist course, lasting one year full-time or two years part- time.

Promotion prospects include managing a team of health visitors and roles at nurse consultant level. There may also be opportunities to move into specialist health visitor roles, nurse education, research or general NHS management.

May 2010