Health Visitor

Job summary
Join Suffolk County Councils 019 Healthy Child Service as a Health Visitor and help give every baby, child and family the best possible start in life.

This is a chance to practise relationship-based public health nursing in a service that is strengthening clinical standards, safeguarding, early help and support for families across Suffolk. You will lead delivery of the Healthy Child Programme (0-5), using your professional judgement to identify need early, reduce inequalities and make a lasting difference during the most important years of a childs development.

We have vacancies in the following areas: Stowmarket, Lowestoft, Waveney, Bury St Edmunds, Sudbury, Ipswich, Thurston, Hadleigh, Woodbridge, Felixstowe, High Suffolk.

Main duties of the job
As a named Health Visitor, you will:

• lead and deliver the Healthy Child Programme (05), including universal contacts and targeted support
• build trusted relationships with families from pregnancy through the early years
• complete holistic assessments of child development, parental wellbeing, family context, risk and resilience
• identify safeguarding concerns early, escalate appropriately and work confidently with partners
• provide proportionate, evidence-based support for families with differing levels of need
• use family voice, local intelligence and data to improve access, quality and outcomes
• support colleagues, students and newly qualified practitioners through a positive learning culture.

About us
The team: You will join Suffolks Childrens Community Health Team, delivering the Healthy Child Programme across Suffolk as part of Public Health, Communities and Public Safety.

Our Health Visitors are specialist clinical public health leaders for children aged 05. Working within a supportive skill mix model, you will help families receive safe, accessible and proportionate support at the right time.

You will benefit from:

• a structured induction programme tailored to newly qualified Health Visitors
• a gradual and supported caseload build, with clear clinical oversight
• regular safeguarding, clinical and management supervision
• support from experienced Health Visitors, managers and practice educator
• protected development opportunities, reflective practice and ongoing learning
• 3 paid continuous professional development days to support development and revalidation (pro rata for part time)
• time to grow your confidence in complex assessment, safeguarding, partnership working and leadership of delegated practice.

Job responsibilities
Main purpose of the job
As a Health Visitor in Suffolks Childrens Community Health Team, you will work as an autonomous Specialist Community Public Health Nurse, leading delivery of the Healthy Child Programme for children aged 05.

You will hold a defined caseload within a locality and work as part of a skill mix team, including Health Visitors and Healthy Child Practitioners. You will focus your time where need and risk are greatest, with delegated delivery of universal elements and clear clinical oversight.

You will use your clinical judgement and public health expertise to improve health, wellbeing, safety and life chances for children and families from pregnancy through to school readiness. This role combines direct work with families, safeguarding and risk management, and clinical leadership within the team.

Typical responsibilities of a role at this level

• Lead and deliver the Healthy Child Programme 05, including antenatal, new birth, 68 week, 12 month and 22 year reviews.
• Use specialist community public health nursing skills to assess need, risk, resilience and protective factors for babies, children and families.
• Provide proportionate universal, targeted and specialist support, prioritising children and families with the greatest need.
• Safeguard babies, children and vulnerable adultsthrough confident risk assessment, professional curiosity, timely escalation and effective multi-agency working.
• Maintain professional accountability for delegated health visiting activity, providing supervision, direction and oversight to colleagues as required.
• Promote public health priorities including family mental health, infant feeding, healthy weight, oral health, safer sleep, accident prevention, immunisation uptake, child development and school readiness.
• Use data, local intelligence and family voice to understand population need, reduce inequalities and improve access for families who may find services harder to reach.
• Work within the NMC Code, SCPHN standards, clinical governance arrangements, safeguarding procedures and Suffolk County Council policies.
• Work within the remit of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) learning from incidents and helping to embed a culture of safety and continuous improvement across community health.
• Adhere to Suffolk County Council and NMC policies on record keeping, maintaining accurate contemporaneous records at all times.
• Take ownership for personal and professional development in line with requirements set out by the NMC re-validation process.

About the team
Suffolks Childrens Community Health Team delivers the Healthy Child Programme across Suffolk as part of Public Health, Communities and Public Safety. Health Visitors are the specialist clinical public health leaders for children aged 05, working within a supportive skill mix model to provide a safe, accessible and proportionate service for families.

The team is focused on:

• delivering the Healthy Child Programme 05 safely, consistently and in line with regional and national expectations
• building trusted relationships with families from pregnancy through the early years
• identifying need and risk early, including safeguarding concerns family mental health and wider family pressures
• supporting families in homes, Family Hubs, neighbourhood clinics and community settings according to need
• using specialist Health Visitor leadership to guide delegated practice and strengthen clinical quality
• reducing health inequalities by focusing additional support where it can have the greatest impact
• working with partners so families experience a joined-up system.

What you will be expected to deliver in the role

• Deliver safe, high-quality health visiting practice aligned to the refreshed Healthy Child Programme.
• Complete holistic assessments considering child development, parental wellbeing, family context, safety and wider determinants of health.
• Build purposeful, trusting relationships with families that support confidence, attachment and positive change.
• Identify safeguarding concerns early and take appropriate, timely action.
• Act as Lead Professional where required, coordinating clear and effective plans with families and partners.
• Provide clinical leadership, advice, delegation and supervision to colleagues within the health visiting skill mix team.
• Maintain accurate, timely and high-quality records, reports and plans in line with professional and information governance standards.
• Use evidence, supervision, audit and feedback to continuously improve practice and outcomes.
• Support students, newly qualified practitioners and colleagues through a positive learning culture.
• Contribute to improving access, quality and consistency across services.

Although this list provides examples of what you will be doing its not intended to be exhaustive, and you will have personal objectives linked to our People Plans and Strategies that will be discussed and agreed with your line manager when you start.

Person Profile what you will bring to the team
Qualifications and professional registration

• 1. Current Nursing and Midwifery Council registration as a nurse or midwife.
• 2. Registered Specialist Community Public Health Nurse qualification in Health Visiting.
• 3. Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to health visiting, safeguarding and public health nursing.
• 4. Practice assessor, supervision, leadership or management qualification, or willingness to develop these skills.

Values and personal qualities

• 5. Demonstrates personal values and behaviours aligned to our corporate WE ASPIRE values.
• 6. Demonstrates compassion, professionalism and respect in all interactions.
• 7. Passionate about improving outcomes for children, young people and families.
• 8. Takes a can-do, solutions-focused approach, even in challenging situations.
• 9. Builds strong, trusting relationships with families from a wide range of backgrounds.
• 10. Shows professional curiosity and takes action when something does not feel right.
• 11. Resilient and confident working with complexity, uncertainty and risk.
• 12. Works collaboratively as part of a team while maintaining professional accountability.
• 13. Uses reflection to continually develop and improve practice.
• 14. Flexible in approach to meet the demands of the post and the priority of improving outcomes for children and families.

Specialist knowledge skills and experience

• 15. Strong knowledge of the Healthy Child Programme 05.
• 16. Confident assessment, clinical decision-making and risk management skills in community settings.
• 17. Experience of safeguarding children and contributing to multi-agency work.
• 18. Ability to work autonomously, manage a caseload and prioritise competing risks.
• 19. Ability to provide leadership, supervision, delegation and support within a team.
• 20. Skilled in engaging families who may have complex needs or barriers to accessing services.
• 21. Ability to use data, evidence and local intelligence to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities.
• 22. Strong written, verbal and digital communication skills.
• 23. Commitment to reflective practice, learning, quality improvement and high standards.

Additional requirements
(These are required for this role, but it is not necessary to demonstrate in your application)

• 24. An enhanced DBS check is required for this role.
• 25. Ability to lift and carry equipment and/or babies and young children
• 26. Available for deployment anywhere in Suffolk.
• 27. Ability to undertake out of hours working if required.

If you think you have what it takes to be successful in this role, even if you dont meet all the criteria, please apply. Wed appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

Travel requirements
You will need to travel, so you must either hold a full, current driving licence and have access to personal transport or meet the mobility requirements of the role through other reasonable and suitable means.

Person Specification
Experience
Essential

• 15. Strong knowledge of the Healthy Child Programme 05.
• 16. Confident assessment, clinical decision-making and risk management skills in community settings.
• 17. Experience of safeguarding children and contributing to multi-agency work.
• 18. Ability to work autonomously, manage a caseload and prioritise competing risks.
• 19. Ability to provide leadership, supervision, delegation and support within a team.
• 20. Skilled in engaging families who may have complex needs or barriers to accessing services.
• 21. Ability to use data, evidence and local intelligence to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities.
• 22. Strong written, verbal and digital communication skills.
• 23. Commitment to reflective practice, learning, quality improvement and high standards.
• 24. An enhanced DBS check is required for this role.
• 25. Ability to lift and carry equipment and/or babies and young children
• 26. Available for deployment anywhere in Suffolk.

Qualifications
Essential

• 1. Current Nursing and Midwifery Council registration as a nurse or midwife.
• 2. Registered Specialist Community Public Health Nurse qualification in Health Visiting.
• 3. Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to health visiting, safeguarding and public health nursing.
• 4. Practice assessor, supervision, leadership or management qualification, or willingness to develop these skills.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).