The view of a student health visitor

We welcome many students on placements at LCH and aim to give them opportunities that will help them develop in their chosen field. Jenanne joined our Health Visiting team on a placement, and below she shares not only her experience of working in that service but also shadowing the senior management team...

"As a student health visitor who is soon to qualify, the opportunity to spend part of my training on Alternative Practice was attractive. This afforded me time to shadow other professionals and services to gain an insight into their practice and as such, I spent time with community midwives, school nurses, those who provide services for children with additional needs and shadowing health visitors in another NHS trust (amongst others). As illuminating as these experiences were, I couldn’t help but wonder what life was like at the top of the tree – and was very gratified when Thea, chief executive at LCH, agreed to have me shadow her for the day.

On the surface of it, spending the day in the Quality Committee and Senior Management Team meetings may not sound that interesting. But I was astonished at the breadth and scope of the services which LCH provides – and the commitment that those involved have towards providing quality care to all our service users. One guiding principle, it emerged, should underpin all care: would you want a loved one being cared for by this service?  If the answer is no, then concepts of ‘quality’ and ‘targets’ are irrelevant. We should all strive towards this gold standard, and not tolerate anything less no matter how challenging our clinical environment.

Another powerful message which I took away was that decision-making can be characterised by clarity and speed. It is appropriate to ask ‘why not?’ when others put up barriers to change; it is not enough to accept that things cannot be changed because they have always been done that way, or because there are personal politics at stake. Instead we must all ensure we are working as a team in both our locality and as part of the trust as a whole.

Far from being abstract and aloof, the fundamental message that I took away from the day was that those in senior management have an acute perception of what things are really like for staff ‘on the ground’ and that we are all working together towards the same goal: providing safe, transparent and top quality care for all who use our services."

Jenanne Fletcher, student health visitor

To find out more about the Health Visiting team, click here. 

Building therapeutic relationships

We have a team of health visitors that work with babies, young mums and families across Leeds. Sam Taylor is a recent member of the team...

“I'm passionate about community services because
working in the community allows me to see
clients in their own homes and environments,
which allow me to build the therapeutic
relationships that are key to my role.”

"I have been working in health visiting for just over one year. I recently completed the post graduate diploma, which included a year-long placement with one of the Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust's (LCH) health visiting teams.

My background is in adult nursing and I previously worked in a hospital, which gave me valuable experience in healthcare and with the public. I trained to be a health visitor as I wanted to make a difference to outcomes for children and families, as well as trying to improve their experiences of childhood and parenting through caring support and guidance.

I received a lot of support whilst on placement at LCH and was made to feel part of the team from day one, this made me want to return once I was qualified.  

The role of a health visitor includes a variety of things, such as delivering the core Healthy Child Programme, running well baby clinics and the antenatal programme for first time parents, assessing families and children who require additional packages of care and planning these as well as attending multi-professional meetings for families.

In health visiting it is really important to form empowering relationships with families that support them in making changes to improve the outcomes of their children. It is extremely rewarding when you see these changes happen."

Meet our staff...

Sharon Underwood, a Health Visitor with the Early Start Team has been awarded the Deans Prize by Leeds Metropolitan University following the completion of her Master’s in Public Health. 

“After a break from studying after my first degree in health visiting, I decided to start a new course and discovered the MSc in Public Health: Health Promotion at Leeds Metropolitan University. Completing the course was as much about doing something for my own personal achievement as well as knowing it would assist with my everyday role as a Health Visitor.

There have been many elements to the course that I have found interesting, one of which was my research project for my 12,000 word dissertation. I decided to look in to the attitudes parents have towards supplying alcohol to their underage teenagers.

Alcohol consumption in adolescence is a source of increasing concern. In England, it is illegal for persons under the age of 18 years to purchase alcohol, and the reduction or prevention of under-age alcohol consumption is a government priority, with supply of and access to alcohol being key aims in the national strategy. The Department of Health’s Chief Medical Officer advocates that an alcohol-free childhood is the healthiest and best option for children. However, research implies that the consumption of alcohol by young people frequently ignores these recommendations.

Parental supply has been identified within a number of studies as a significant point of access to alcohol by teenagers. They may do this for many reasons; to demystify drinking alcohol, be in control of how much they consume or some see it as a rite of passage. A recent Drinkaware study identified a correlation between parental drinking habits, and influences upon children. I specifically chose to recruit and interview parents, aged between 44 and 64 years, from middleclass families as research shows there is an increase in the weekly drinking habits of this group. 

Of the seven parents I spoke with there was a varying degree of attitudes, awareness and lack of knowledge. One mum even took away with her some prompt cards describing different scenarios where her children may her approach her for alcohol to use during discussions with her children.

It was evident through the interviews that parents aren’t given much advice and support on what they should do if their teenage son or daughter comes to them to ask for alcohol to take to a party, etc. As a nurse by background and working in the healthcare profession for 30 years, I have seen the short and long term health impacts for people and their families who have been affected by excessive drinking of alcohol and as health care professionals we should get better at having these conversations early.”

Congratulations to Sharon on her degree and well deserved prize.

You can access information and support from your local Health Centre or GP surgery or your child’s school/college pastoral services. In addition, you may find the following websites a useful source of information:

• Drinkaware: Alcohol and your child
• Drinkaware: What do other parents
• NHS Choices