WHITHER HEALTH VISITING … AGAIN?

This descriptive, qualitative study asks “Whither Health Visiting…Again?” and provides a window into a significant period for the profession of health visiting, from September 2004 - December 2009. It explores the professional identity of health visiting from its inception to its recent past, whilst considering the notion and construct of professional identity. The study examines the nature and degree of influences affecting the role and identity of health visiting, whilst investigating the contextual discourses associated with its service. The participants in this study are senior health visitors, and health visitor educators engaged in the training and education of health visitors throughout England. This inquiry demonstrates the considerable confusion and uncertainty that presently exists around the role and identity of health visiting and it shows how health visiting is subject to a significant degree of multifaceted influence. The most significant influences are shown to be those derived from government and its associated bodies, particularly those with NHS strategic, operational, commissioning, managerial and professional regulatory authority. The Nursing and Midwifery Council, and specifically its new nursing regulatory register, is considered to be the most influential factor on the professional identity of health visiting. Individual health visitors appear to have minimal power and influence over their role and identity. The findings also indicate that the general public and consumers of the health visiting service are perceived as having some of the least influence on health visiting. This study indicates the strong desire of health visitors for more effective leadership, within their own profession, nursing, and wider governmental bodies. The study recommends that further research is conducted to investigate the nature and degree of the influence of provider and purchasing bodies on - the workforce numbers of health visitors; the design and commissioning of health visiting services, and health visitor opportunities for leadership within the realms of family and child health services