Understanding variation in health visiting
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding variation in the delivery of the health visiting service across England
IRAS ID
306933
Contact name
Jenny Woodman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Institute of Child Health Research and Development Office
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2021/01/90, UCL Data Protection Registration Number
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 29 days
Research summary
The health visiting service in England is provided to all families with children under 5 years old to improve health and reduce health inequalities. In theory, it does this by offering at least 5 health visiting reviews (in the form of home visits, telephone contacts or otherwise) to all families with children in the first 2 years of life to help with issues including breastfeeding, parenting, and supporting child development. However, there is evidence that there is variation in the amount and types of contact that different areas in England provide to their local populations. Transfer of health visiting to local authorities, reductions in public health budgets, and changes to the health visiting workforce have all been suggested as drivers of this variation. Previous studies looking at disadvantage as a possible driver of variation have not been able to provide conclusive evidence, due to limitations in data quality and availability. This study is part of a 3-year PhD project, and will use case studies and semi-structured interviews to explore variation in the delivery of health visiting services in four local areas across England with different levels of health visiting activity and disadvantage. Interviews will be carried out with health visiting professionals, practitioners, and parents and carers within these local areas to understand their perspectives of the health visiting service. This will help understand some of the factors (including facilitators and barriers) that influence delivery of the health visiting service within and between local authorities.
REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/PR/1398
Date of REC Opinion
21 Nov 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion