The Health Visiting Service supports families with a new baby or child under five-years-old by offering advice and guidance.
Your health visitor will see you at least two times after your baby is born, when your baby is around 10 days old and a further appointment at six to eight weeks following birth. There is also a developmental review between nine and 12 months of age. You can email healthvisitingappointments@nhs.net to change or amend an appointment or contact your local team for support.
Who's in the team?
Our team includes community public health nurses, senior public health assistants and health visitors. Health visitors are registered nurses or midwives trained in the care and development of pre-school children. We work with midwives, GPs, paediatricians, local children's centres and voluntary organisations to provide the best possible care to you and your family.
Contacts with your health visitor
Kent health visitors and midwives have put together a video on how your baby's growth is monitored during their early years, why this is important and what support is available for you and your baby. Thank you to all the parents, children and colleagues at Kent Community Health Foundation Trust and East Kent University Foundation Trust for their help in creating this video.
Additional support on offer
- Child health clinics - Come along to a child health clinic for advice, information and support for you and your child's health and development from your local Health Visiting Team.
- Beside You - help and support with breastfeeding including details of local breastfeeding drop-in sessions and virtual groups.
- Born to Move app - encouraging play and interaction to help the learning and development of your baby's brain at this early stage, building the foundations for a healthy, confident child.
- Understanding your child - FREE online courses for anyone who is pregnant or caring for a child in Kent. There are courses for all stages from before baby arrives, up to 18 years of age. Use the access code Invicta to register for an account. You can complete courses in smaller chunks at your own pace.
- Virtual workshops on a variety of topics including starting solids and toilet training.
Contact us
You can phone your local team for advice or reassurance Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm (except bank holidays). For medical concerns about your child or yourself please call 111, GP or if urgent attend A&E.