private health visitor

[lightlady]

I am a very experienced health visitor who is becoming frustrated at not being able to offer a personalized service to families. Do you think there is a market for a private health visiting service which would provide continuity and one to one advice and support?

[Princess]

I do think there is a market for this kind of service. I felt very isolated in the early days when my health visitor made two appointments to come and see me and then just didn't turn up. As a result, we have used healthvisitordirect.com to help us with various issues.

[lightlady]

I am so sorry that you felt so isolated at this critical time. I do hope things are improving. Thank you for your feedback

[Fuschia]

I'm afraid amongst many mums I know, the image of the HV is poor, due to inconsistnt or incorrect advice given out. Rebranding yourself somehow to avoid the "HV" label might be no bad thing.

Proper knowledgeable and non-directive advice and support on issues like breasrfeeding, weaning, weight, sleep etc is worth its weight in gold, but I'm not sure how many women feel that's what they get from their HV

[lightlady]

This makes me feel very sad that such a valuable service has reached such a low in the public estimation. However I feel the criticism is valid and it is this which makes we want to offer the calibre of service which families need and have a right to. However would people be prepared to pay for this service?

[duchessofdulwich]

I was shocked by the lack of support from the health visitors in this area.

[Princess]

I would like to clarify that I don't think it's the Health Visitors that are at fault. I think they, like the midwives affiliated to the various GP practices are crippling under the sheer volume of work they have to deal with. Personally, I would pay for a private Health Visitor next time around. I would appreciate one on one care and to be honest anything that saves me waiting in the waiting room for 2.5 hours (this happened twice) with a tiny baby has got to be worth every penny!

[snowboarder]

Lightlady - it quickly became clear to me that the service the HV's provide was not going to be very helpful - there were a couple of threads about a year ago which make quite painful reading I think:

Here

and

here

There are quite a few private midwife/doulas who seem to offer post natal advice though? And of course this lovely forum...

[The Nappy Lady]

Lightlady,

I think your best bet would be to combine your existing qualification with becoming a post-natal Doula. There is certainly a market for Doulas in this area, and you can specialise, so you don't do the birth stuff if that is not of interest.

I think this would provide the necessary "re-branding", whilst allowing you to put all your knowledge to very good use.

If you Google Doula UK (not sure if it is one word) you can read more about training courses etc.

Molly

[lightlady]

Thank you for your reply but does the health visiting service only encompass the post natal period? I do lots of work with behavioural issues with toddlers and older children. My training has included in depth study of child development and behaviour management. Does anyone use the local service for these areas?

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

My health visitor visited me once, asked me why I had a breastfeeding cover on ( because I was a new nervous mum trying to get the hang of breastfeeding and didn't want to expose my boobs to her) she then moaned about all these mums doing dream feeding which she did not agree with. I went to see her once at the clinic and never ever again, she told me my son had wind and laughed at me when I said the GP dismissed me also despite my worries that my son was ill. Well three days later he ended up very poorly in hospital on a drip, I still feel immense guilt today that I listened to them and my boy suffered for three days before I listened to my mother's instincts and went to accident and emergency, My HV visitors writing in the red book saying " Mother has worries, though I have advised her to wind baby after every breastfeed" still haunts me as it is just reminds when how critically sick my son was and her laughing at me. I am surprised they have not called social services on me since I have only been once and ignored all their letters.

Also there is only one baby clinic at 10-11am, my son gets up around that time so we could never make it even if they were excellent.

It would be nice to have a health visitor who actually knows what she is talking about, as I would love some advice on my son's allergies. I do think there is not enough support for us mums and babies.

[Fuschia]

I made a complaint about my HV after she made me cry telling me I'd put DS1 at risk taking him swimming before his vaccs, made me sign to say I'd taken the vaccs booklet, booklet turns out to say it's fien to take baby swimming before vaccs (and I had in fact spoken to the GP about it anyway)

Then different HV suggested peanut butter on toast as a good first finger food (we have terrible allergies in our family, actually not wise to introduce peanuts till MUCH later, nor gluten)

I never went back.

[Belle]

lightlady - I can see a need for what you're offering, certainly, and perhaps some might have the means but think quite a few might not? I wonder, is there a way you could offer a clinic style operation (not sure at all how this would work in terms of liability to ignore if it's a rubbish idea) so that the cost was somehow shared - since most people might only need 5 mins of advice anyway?

[duchessofdulwich]

I remember it was snowing when my baby was new born and had just dozed off with her sleeping on my chest. DING DONG ...oh its the the health visitor, no call to say she was coming? turned up because of the snow and she had so many people on her books she was going around now to see everyone now. explained i had been seen someone else the previous week and she couldnt wait to get back out the door after that.

I also told another health visitor my main concern was my babys ears ( husband partially deaf) and we had not had a hearing test in hospital. was given the wrong number for newborn hearing checks. rung the midwives at kings who were brilliant and got a test sorted for me.

Went to the weighing in clinic waited an hour and a half the first time round. if i had private questions for the health visitor i wouldnt have felt comfortable asking them in a room full of other people? havent bothered going back whats I can weigh the baby at home.

I personally think the idea of a private health visitor in the area might be a good idea due to the poor experience many people have had around east dulwich. would you do home visits?

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

DuchessofDulwich, my health visitor just turned up also! And at 4 til 7pm ( she was telling me all about her piles etc).

I also did not like that the baby clinic takes place in a room with everyone else, what if you wanted to talk about PND? hardly private if it?

[gwod]

I agree with Molly that becoming a Doula may be the way to go to attract post natal ladies as I dont think its clear what one needs a HV for, I would have never considered paying for one as the ones I got for free were not very helpful. (We called one of ours the stealth visitor!) I got the impression that they represented the NHS more than the parent, ensuring you are having all your injections, are signed off from hospital care etc. However. with my first couple of babies, I would have welcomed more help and advice after the birth - a post natal midwife or feeding consultant would have been what I would have looked for....or maybe a kind of rent-a-mum!

Good luck - Let us know what you decide to do.

[Lochie]

I would be interested in a private HV service were I to have another child. Does this service exist already?

I have an outstanding HV (in Herne Hill) who I feel is worth her weight in gold, however I also had a poor HV assigned to me when I was living outside of London immediately after my son was born. A good HV is invaluable but I do think a bad HV can be quite damaging - I remember I just didn't like my first HV, she was cold and actually bossed me around like some kind of school ma'am! It's not just that they have issues with time constraints and huge amounts of pressure, some HVs just aren't good with people (in the same way that some doctors can be clinically excellent but have no people skills). I am not HV bashing here as like I said, I have a superb HV....but surely people skills should be top of the list for such an influential time in a woman's life. I also think a good HV works in tandem with the GPs at the practice where they are based.

Lightlady - you mention continuity, one to one advice and support. I think all women should have access to this and its a shame that from the posts above alot of women don't...so I would imagine that yes there is a market for private health visiting services, but its a shame that NHS HV services are such a lottery for new mums...

[duchessofdulwich]

In all fairness the first health visitor I had (from the gardens ) was lovely and did ask how I was feeling after the birth etc whilst at home. I also had a lovely GP for 6 week check up who did a PND assessement.

As GWOD said the other HV I felt represented the NHS rather that suiting the needs of the mother/child. That clinic at townley road was very dissapointing it felt like it was a "job lot". I breast fed my daughter after a weigh in then one of them asked me "would you prefere to use the side room!". got more useful tips talking to the other mums in the waiting room

[new mother]

Two categories for us - first post discharge mwifery who were very good adn dedicated enough to come out in terrible snow the first time. She told us about injections etc and did the sickle cell etc heel prick tests for both chidlren. They stopped when they regained birth weight.

Then we had a hv. Useless for us as she was really from Social Services wanting to identify at risk children. I can see the point of her with problem families though. She did afamily tree but lost interest when we told her both sets of gparents were obsessed with children and had seen both babies within minutes of their births.

Which of the two services are you proposing to do privately? If the former, I think the parents would pay. But in my experience the former is already quite good. If the latter, how would you operate? PLease don't say you would be a consultant to the health Authority...for which we service, as taxpayers, will end up paying through the nose, again...

[Moi23]

Had a totally useless HV first time round with no privacy whatsoever. Quite shocking really. Now I'm with Elm Lodge and they are first class.

[Lochie]

Yes I am with Elmlodge too and that is where my excellent HV is, and I hear the other HV there is also great, can't commend them enough. Shame its not like that across the board...

[Keef]

Fuschia Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm afraid amongst many mums I know, the image of

> the HV is poor, due to inconsistnt or incorrect

> advice given out. Rebranding yourself somehow to

> avoid the "HV" label might be no bad thing.

>

> Proper knowledgeable and non-directive advice and

> support on issues like breasrfeeding, weaning,

> weight, sleep etc is worth its weight in gold, but

> I'm not sure how many women feel that's what they

> get from their HV

Couldn't agree more. My wife was pretty much told to stop breastfeeding and feed our daughter uop as she was too light. She was literally scared they'd call social services on us or something. When she went to a GP, she was told the baby was perfectly healthy, and advised to report the HV.

I know that there a\re plenty of very good HV's out there, but all too often people have had bad experiences, so as Fuschia suggests, a rebranding could be what you need.

Best of luck.

[duchessofdulwich]

babies are all different just like people, why do they stick them all in the same box ? eg too light too heavy

[annaloo9]

Hi everyone - New to this thread but very interested in your musings. I had a really helpful health visitor when we had our darling son a few years ago, now we have just had our daughter, it was a complete turn around. The health visitor says she can only visited us once and it was at a time when we were having our baby's naming ceremony. Totally inappropriate. She said she could only visit us then and it would only be the 1 visit - so I had to leave the ceremony and listen to over an hour of 'words' which I couldnt take in. As I was tired, pre-occupied and certainly in need of the loo!

My only wish was that this was done at a time when I more relaxed and possibly when my husband had returned home from work so he could have been a part of the proceedings.

I asked for an evening visit and was told they only work 9 to 5pm and certainly no weekends. This we saw as a huge gap in their service delivery. The only way around this is to ask for a private visit- which of course they cannot do. Now my friend has just told me about a new service which she got a leaflet at her clinic its a new website www.privatehealthvisitor.com - does anyone know anything about private health visitors are they any good? How do they work? I am interested in using this service I will of course dig some more and offer any more info I find about this service through this forum.

[Cora]

Yes a great idea but may have to market yourself cleverly to ensure you overcome the negative feeling towards the nhs system....