Health Visiting – Halton

General introduction

Health visiting is delivered by specialist community public health nurses who lead and coordinate the universal Healthy Child Programme. This programme provides expert health assessments, advice, support and interventions for all children and families during the early years of life.

Health visitors sit at the heart of children’s services, working in close partnership with parents, carers and local services from the antenatal period through to school entry.

The team encourages and supports parents and carers to develop lifelong skills, helping them make informed choices that positively influence their child’s future health and wellbeing.

All families are offered an initial Family Health Needs Assessment, ensuring that your child’s care plan is centred on their individual needs. You can read more about this assessment in the Useful information section on this page.

Drop in Family Health clinics

Widnes Healthy Child Drop-ins

Monday
Warrington Road Children’s Centre
9.30am to 11.30am

Tuesday
Ditton Library
1pm to 3pm

Wednesday
Kingsway Learning Centre
1pm to 3pm

Runcorn Healthy Child Drop-ins

Monday
St Pauls Health Centre
9.30am to 11.30am

Tuesday
Windmill Hill Children’s Centre
Tuesday 1pm to 3pm

Thursday
Halton Lodge Children’s Centre
9.30am to 11.30am

Friday
Brookvale Children’s Centre
9.30am to 11.30am

How to access this service

Our teams are community based and can be contacted by telephone, email, text, or by attending one of our drop‑in Family Health clinics.

Care is provided in a range of settings, including the family home, health clinics, nurseries and children’s centres.

Please contact us using the telephone numbers or email addresses listed in the Contact us section.

You can also request our contact details from the nursery, school or college.

Useful information

Family Health Needs Assessment

The initial Family Health Needs Assessment helps you and your health visitor plan what level of Health Visiting Service is needed.

This may be one of the following four levels:

1. Your community

Health visiting teams hold information about a wide range of local and wider health services, including children’s centres, GPs and dentists.

They deliver drop‑in family health clinics and baby clinics in local communities, ensuring all families have easy access to timely information, advice and support whenever needed.

All venues used for clinics offer pram and wheelchair access.

2. Universal

Universal health visiting is offered to all children aged 0 to 5 years and their families.

Health visiting teams coordinate and deliver the Healthy Child Programme, working with you to assess your child’s health and development. This helps identify any concerns early so that you can access the right support as soon as possible.

The programme also gives you the opportunity to receive expert advice on topics such as diet, parenting, preparation for nursery, and school immunisations.

The universal Healthy Child Programme contacts include:

antenatal contact
new birth visit at 10 to 14 days
contact at 6 to 8 weeks
contact at 3 to 4 months
a child health review by 1 year of age
a child health review by 2.5 years of age

3. Targeted

A rapid response from your health visiting team if you need specific expert help on health issues such as feeding, parenting, sleep or emotional wellbeing.

4. Specialist

If your child or family’s needs are more complex, your Health Visitor can play a key role in coordinating local services that can support you, your child and your wider family.

You will be given every opportunity to share what you would like from these services. A clear plan will be created so you understand how the support will be provided and who will be responsible for coordinating it.

Clinical specialist – infant feeding

Our clinical specialist for infant feeding provides an appointment‑based clinic for families who need additional support.

If you feel that an appointment may help with any ongoing feeding difficulties, please speak to your health visitor or midwife who can make a referral on your behalf.

Health visiting and SEND

Health visitors support all children and young people, including those with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND), to achieve well throughout their lives. They keep children and their families at the centre of care, providing early help and support in partnership with children’s specialist services.

The Local Offer is a user‑friendly online resource where information about services for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) from birth to 25 years is brought together in one place.