Health Visiting

Welcome to the Sonning Common health visiting team

Employed by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, we work both independently and collaboratively with the Primary Health Care Team at Sonning Common Health Centre. Our office is within the Health Centre.

Health Visitors are all qualified nurses with additional training and experience in child health, health promotion and education. The Health Visiting Team aims to promote the health of individuals, families and the community. Most of the health visiting team’s time is allocated to families/carers with children under the age of five years.

To contact the health visiting team please telephone the number as above. Non urgent messages can be left on the answer machine.  Parents and carers of children under the age of five years can also call into the child health clinic.

The Health Visiting Team at Sonning Common provides the following services:

·         A home visit to all new parents when their baby is approximately 2 weeks old

·         An additional follow-up visit may be agreed e.g. for breastfeeding support or following a caesarean section when a mother is unable to drive

·         An antenatal visit where there are additional needs 

·         A visit/contact to all new mothers 7 to 8 weeks after the birth of their baby to include an assessment of maternal (mum’s) mental health and discuss local support, groups and the children’s centre

·         A drop-in ‘well’ baby/child health clinic for under fives. Thursdays 1.30 to 3.00 pm in the village hall next to Somerfield

·         Child development reviews for all children between 8 to 12 months of age (a member of the health visiting team will contact parents/carers)

·         Review for all children aged 2 to 2½ years of age. This may be a letter, telephone call or face to face review.

·         The health visitor will contact parents of all children under 5 years of age registering at Sonning Common. A home visit or clinic contact will be offered where children are under 2 years of age

·         Safeguarding children

·         Support for children with special needs and their families.

·         Advice on healthy eating, weaning, monitoring growth and prevention of obesity. Healthy start scheme.

·         Postnatal groups are run by the staff nurse supported by local children’s centre staff when resources are available

·         Advice and support on difficulties such as sleep, toilet training, behaviour, accessing local facilities, domestic abuse, postnatal depression. Support may be on the telephone, in clinic or additional home visits may be arranged

·         Advice on immunisations and the childhood vaccination programme

·         Enuresis (bedwetting)

v      Health visitors support parents to help their children to develop in every way to their full potential - physically, intellectually, language and emotionally

v     Health visitors work in partnership and refer to other agencies such as voluntary (homestart), speech and language, hearing testing, school nurses, children and families team (social workers), EYSENIT (early years special educational needs teacher), Children’s centre staff, home school link worker.

Please see click here for useful local information and click here for facilities for children under the age of 5 years