Health Visiting Service

Family Nursing & Home Care (FNHC) provides a comprehensive Health Visiting service to the Jersey community. The Health Visiting Service includes the Baby Steps Programme, UNICEF Baby Friendly initiative and Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home Visiting service (MECSH). The FNHC Health Visiting Service is available to all parents and families in Jersey during pregnancy until children reach school age, at which point our School Nursing service is available.

FNHC Health Visitors provide expert support to all islanders. All Health Visitors are qualified, professional nurses or midwives with specialist community public health nurse qualifications. The service is led by a qualified Health Visitor and includes highly trained Community Staff Nurses and Community Nursery Nurses. We have the courage to do things differently and strive to provide innovation and new levels of care to the community.

The Health Visiting Team works with a number of government departments such as health, education, children’s services, plus the charity sector and the Children’s Commissioner to support the delivery of the islands Children’s Plan. Our Health Visitors conduct review health assessments for Children Looked After, in line with national practice. FNHC’s services for children are all regulated and inspected by the Jersey Care Commission.

Our experts deliver the Healthy Child Programme. This evidenced based programme is offered to parents of children under school age and is provided in the home or in a community setting. We focus on prevention, providing families with screening, immunisations and health and development reviews.

Our experts offer the best possible health, wellbeing and parenting advice.

The Healthy Child Programme focuses on a number of areas including:

• Supporting the transition to parenthood
• Supporting maternal and paternal family health
• Supporting breastfeeding
• Supporting healthy baby weight and nutrition
• Improving health, wellbeing and child development
• Understanding common childhood illnesses and infections

• Supporting language development and providing early learning guidance
• Understanding safety and accident prevention
• Understanding behavioural difficulties including sleeping, eating, potty training and temper tantrums

As part of the Healthy Child Programme, the Health visiting service will contact you:

• Before you have your baby
• Ten to fourteen days after the birth of your baby
• Six to Eight weeks after birth
• When your baby is four months old (to focus on introducing solid food)
• When your baby is twelve months old (for a development review)
• When your child is two years old (for a further development review)

These regular points of contact help us understand where you might need additional support or advice from other FNHC or health providers which may include our MECSH programme.

When you need us, we will be there.

Important Information:

If your child is unwell, you must call your GP for advice, or dial 999 in an emergency or go to the Emergency Department at the Hospital with your child.

Stage 2 UNICEF Baby Friendly Accreditation

Family Nursing & Home Care (FNHC) are delighted to announce that they have been awarded a Stage 2 UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation.

The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) Baby Friendly Initiative works with UK and Channel Islands public services to protect, promote and support breastfeeding and to strengthen mother-baby and family relationships.

Visit the full UNICEF accreditation report.

FNHC will now work towards Stage 3 of the UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation in 2023.