For general advice and enquiries -  we now have a Health Visiting and School Nursing advice line - 0161 835 6789. It is available Monday-Friday, 9am - 4.30pm (not bank holidays)

The advice line provides support from Health Visitors and School Nurses on all aspects of child health, development and parenting including – sleep, infant feeding, introducing family foods/solids, healthy eating, management of minor illnesses, child development, speech and communication, behavior, general health and emotional well-being, immunisations, toilet training,  and special educational needs.

To contact your Health Visitor with an enquiry or to book an appointment – contact them via the HV team (contact details below).

For breast feeding / infant feeding advice please contact the Infant Feeding team on 07767 870506 or infantfeedingteam@stockport.nhs.uk

All Health Visitors are qualified nurses or midwives with extra training and experience of child and family health, public health and health promotion. Their role is to work with you and your family, offering support and advice in the first important years of your parenting journey, to improve health, and support you in building close, loving relationships.

Health Visitors work as part of integrated Start Well Locality teams, which include Staff Nurses, Early Years Workers, Start Well Coordinators, Health Visiting Locality Assistants and support staff. They may see you and your family at home, in health centres or clinics, in Start Well Hubs or Satellites, or your GP surgery. More information about Start Well can also be found here

The team also works closely with other services including midwives, social workers, early years nurseries, school nurses and school age plus workers to better support you and your family and help support your child’s health and wellbeing.

As a parent you know your child better than anyone else. You will have the opportunity to talk about your child’s development using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ3). If any extra help is needed this will be given as soon as possible to help all children achieve their very best in the earliest years and become ready for school.

To directly contact your Health Visiting team with an enquiry or to book an appointment:

WHAT CAN MY START WELL HEALTH VISITING TEAM HELP ME WITH?

The team may visit you at home or in the clinic and in some circumstances they also offer consultations remotely using a video platform called Attend Anywhere.

They can offer advice and support on a wide range of health topics, including;

• Breastfeeding
• Responsive and paced bottle feeding
• Healthy eating and child growth
• Healthy and safe sleep patterns
• Immunisations
• Child development and behaviour
• Accident prevention
• Mental health
• Toileting
• Coping with minor illness
• Speech and language development
• Management and prescriptions for common childhood ailments, including thrush, nappy rash and eczema
• Support for parents experiencing domestic violence
• Signposting to specialist services
• Signposting to information about childcare in Stockport 

Everyone due to have a baby or who has a pre-school child has a health visitor and your local health visiting team is linked to where you live.

Health Visiting teams are trained to deliver the ‘Healthy Child Programme’, which include the following contacts:

• Ante-natal visit
• New birth visit (10 – 14 days)
• 6-8 week contact
• 9 month developmental assessment
• 2 year developmental assessment 

Confidentiality

You can be confident that your child and family health records- both paper and electronic systems - will be stored securely and confidentially on our premises.

Some anonymous public health data may be shared for local and national reports.We will also share appropriate information regarding your child’s progress with their early years provider, nursery and/or school.

If you do not wish us to share this information please contact your Health Visitor

Useful links and websites

www.facebook.com/StockportHV

www.stockport.gov.uk/start-well

For a wide range of health information and advice

www.nhs.uk or telephone 111

For advice and application for Health Start

www.healthystart.nhs.uk

For parenting and family support

www.familylives.org.uk

For local breastfeeding support

www.stockport.nhs.uk/breastfeeding

For finding child care

www.stockport.gov.uk/childcare

National Helpline services:

Domestic Abuse Helpline    0808 2000 247

National breastfeeding helpline 0300 100 0212

Samaritans 116 123