Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Health Visiting and School Nursing Service

Welcome to our service

Our team is made up of a variety of NHS staff with specific training and qualifications to support the health needs of children, young people and families in the community. In our teams we have Administrators, Assistant Practitioners, Health Visitors, Nursery Nurses, School Nurses, Staff Nurses, Students and Vision Screeners. Together we are able to offer a wide range of help, advice and support for children and young people aged 0-19 years old.

• Antenatal Contact

  Our new antenatal pathway is currently being developed. Our new offer will include: 

  • face to face Pathway to Parenting antenatal groups across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
  • Pathway to Parenting antenatal groups delivered online through a webinar
  • digital questionnaire sent out via SMS

  Whilst we develop all parts of this new offer, not all parts are available to everyone. Some families will continue to be seen at home during pregnancy. Home visits are offered based on the needs of the family.

  If you have any questions or would like any support, advice or guidance please call us on 0300 029 50 50.

• Our 0 to 5 Health Visiting Service

  Welcome to our service

• Infant Feeding Team

  Our infant feeding team is made up NHS staff with specific training and qualifications to support parents with their feeding preferences. 

  The team has a Level 3 Unicef baby friendly accreditation and is made up of Infant Feeding Advisors, Nursery Nurses and Specialist Health Visitors.

  • Infant Feeding Advisors - have knowledge and experience in infant feeding  They have a high level of skill through their experience and training to support infants and young children.
  • Nursery Nurses - have skills and experience in particular subjects around young children's health. They have a high level of skill through their experience and training supporting the 0 to 5 teams and are expertly placed to help families with their feeding choices.
  • Specialist Health Visitors - are nurses or midwives who are passionate about promoting healthy lifestyles and preventing illness. When they are specialist, they have particular qualifications and have had further training in a specific area of health, in this case infant feeding.

  Together we are able to offer a wide range of evidence based support about breastfeeding, bottle feeding, and introducing family foods.

  We have lots of information to support families:

  Feeding cues and signs of getting enough milk

  Responsive feeding

  Breastfeeding

  Bottle feeding

  Weaning and introducing solid foods

  Feeding and eating

• Getting ready for change

  Getting Ready for Change aims to support your child, young person and your family through key transition stages, or recognised times of change and child development. It consists of 4 questionnaires relating to your child’s development.

  The Reception year and Year 6 questionnaires are completed by parents and carers. The Year 9 and Year 11 questionnaires are to be completed by young people themselves. 

  Once completed, you’ll be provided with links to our website where you can find more information on the topics you selected. 

  Your results can be downloaded as a PDF. The questionnaires are anonymous and will not appear on your child’s health record.

  Complete a questionnaire today

  Video transcript

  Hello, my name's Heather and I'm a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse. I'd like to introduce you to Getting Ready for Change. A set four new digital health questionnaires aimed at children, young people and families. 

  
  Getting Ready for Change questionnaires are issued to parents and carers when their child is aged 3 to 4 and again aged 10 to 11. This corresponds to important transition points in your child's journey through education. Questionnaires are issued directly to young people aged 13 to 14 and again aged 15 and 16. The questionnaires will be delivered by email from your child's education provider or through links in local authority. For example, if your child is homeschooled. You'll receive a link which takes you to the questionnaire portal on our website where you can select the questionnaire which applies to you. This will open the digital questionnaire, which is completed as a series of drop down questions. 

  
  You will be asked whether you require more information around several health topics relating to you or your child's development. At the end of the questionnaire, you can download a PDF of your results, which you can keep. You'll be provided with links to our website where you can find more information on the topics you selected. 

  
  We ask you to provide your postcode and education provider, but the questionnaire is anonymous. This means it's not linked to you or your child and we are not able to identify you individually. This will not appear on your or your child's health record and you don't have to complete it if you don't want to. We use the postcode and education provider to help us see where common worries and concerns are and work with communities around providing advice and support.

  
  You don't have to wait to receive a questionnaire to access our service for health advice or support. You can find lots of information right here on our website about all of the health topics we cover in the questionnaire. And if you want more help, you can call our Single Point of Access desk to speak to a member of our team on 0300 029 50 50. Young people can speak directly to a School Nurse through our Chathealth messaging service by texting 0748 635 443.

  
  Thank you.

• Our 5 to 19 School Nursing Service

  Welcome to our service

  Video transcript

  Hello, my name is Lorraine, and I would like to introduce you to the School Nursing Service, also known as the 5 to 19 Service. The School Nursing Service provides health advice and support for children from age 5 to 19.

  Our service is available to all children and young people with a home postcode within our county borders of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

  The 5 to 19 service is led by Specialist Community Public Health Nurses, also known as SCPHNs. These are registered nurses who have undertaken further qualification to become an NMC Registered School Nurse. They take over care for children aged five and over from their Health Visitor colleagues. We also have Family Public Health Nurses who have qualifications in both School Nursing and Health Visiting. Our team also includes School Staff Nurses and Assistant Practitioners who have specific skills to support children, young people, and families. We also have Specialist Practitioners within our team.

  If you would like to speak to a member of your School Nursing Team, you can call us Monday to Friday, on the number shown on screen, between 9am and 5pm to discuss any questions you may have about health and wellbeing. Our staff are highly skilled and knowledgeable about the health and development of children and young people. If we are not able to support you, we will signpost you to the right service based on your needs. You can also access our text messaging service for parents of children aged 0 to 19. Text us on the number shown on the screen, and we have lots of useful information, advice, and resources on our website.

  We work closely with local schools and partner agencies to share our Getting Ready for Change questionnaire (GR4C). You can watch our video by clicking on the pop-up link on screen. We can offer advice and support on lots of topics such as sleep, healthy behaviours, diet and exercise, bladder and bowel issues, keeping well, and moving through education. For specific 1-to-1 support from the team, we are open to referrals in the following way:

  Professionals, teachers, family workers, and GPs by completing a referral form found on our website inline with our referral guidance. Parents by phoning our 0300 number or texting in our #text us platform, and direct from young people by completing our online self-referral form which requests a call back from a School Nurse.

• Young Parent Pathway

  The Young Parent Pathway service provides extra support and guidance to new parents under 19 years old. The support will be provided on top of the visits from your health visitor. It will be available from pregnancy until your child is 1 years old.

  The Young Parent Pathway is designed to provide tailored help and support to you and your baby. We want to help you to be the type of parent you want to be for your baby. There is no one way to be a good parent. Our pathway will be changed to meet your wants, needs and cultural or lifestyle choices.

  Read more about the Young Parent Pathway

• Calling us and texting us

  Families and professionals can access up to date advice, help and support Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. No matter how big or small the enquiry may be, the healthy child programme team are always happy to assist via phone call or a text message. So, if you are a parent or a carer who is in need of advice simply

  Call us 0300 029 50 50 or text us 07520 649 887

  Call us text us

• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Family Hubs

  Our service supports and is part of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Family Hubs

  Family Hubs is a national programme to help ensure that babies, children and families have the support they need, when it is needed. The offer includes:

  • parent support, particularly for parents of children aged 0 to 2 years
  • help and ideas to support your child’s learning and development
  • how to support your child to become happy, independent and resilient adults
  • support for parents’ emotional well-being in the first years of parenthood
  • help with infant feeding
  • information, support and advice online

  

  For more local information visit:

  Cambridgeshire Family Hubs or Peterborough Family Hubs

• Who will you see and speak to

  • Administrators are very skilled NHS professionals that provide all the organisational support for the clinical teams. They are also the friendly voices at the other end of the phone when contacting the service.
  • Assistant Practitioners have skills and experience in particular subjects around children and young people's health. They have a high level of skill through their experience and training supporting 0 to 19 team.
  • Health Visitors are nurses or midwives who are passionate about promoting healthy lifestyles and preventing illness. They work with families to give pre-school-age children (0 to 5) the best possible start in life.
  • Nursery Nurses have skills and experience in particular subjects around young children's health. They have a high level of skill through their experience and training supporting the 0-5 team.
  • School Nurses work across education and health, providing a link between school, home and the community. Their aim is improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people. They work with families and young people from 5 to 19.
  • Staff Nurses are qualified nurses, who's expertise support the whole 0 to 19 team.
  • Students are 'nurses in training' undergoing their nursing qualification. They will partner with a qualified mentor to help them gain experience and learn.
  • Vision Screeners have particular specialist experience in children and young people's vision. They have a high level of skill through their training and support families with vital information about their child's vision.

• Where we work

  We work in the community across the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. As our team has such a mixed role they will be in lots of locations in the local areas offering support over video calls, text messages and telephones call as well face to face visits.