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NHS

Spotlights:
Health Visiting

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ChatHealth

More than 40% of health visiting teams in England have set up ChatHealth allowing parents and carers to speak to health visitors via confidential text messaging.

Busy parents say they appreciate the convenience of reaching health visitors via ChatHealth. It can often be easier to send a message to ask for advice, particularly for those who find it difficult to talk on the phone.

Number of Contacts

82,145

messaging conversations between parents and carers of young children under 5 and health visitors

(2024-25)

Number of Contacts

55,403

messaging conversations between  parents and carers of babies and children aged 0-19 and health visitors/school nurses

(2024-25)

Top Reasons for Contact

  • Infant feeding
  • Development and behaviour
  • Minor illnesses
(2024-25)

Busiest Times for Contact

On Monday and Tuesday
between 9:00 – 11:00

(2024-25)

Service User Experience

82%

of parents and carers who used ChatHealth said their conversation helped them 

(2024-25)

Animated feedback

Feedback from a parent

“I find this service so helpful. Not having to schedule a call, texting is far easier as a busy Mum. I feel like everyone I’ve spoken to is thorough, thoughtful and supportive without judgement.”

(2024-25)

Feedback from a health visitor

“I feel it’s a valuable service for parents, they appreciate that its anonymous and that they can ask any question without feeling judged.”

(2024-25)

Evidence

iHV Case Study on Boosting Health Literacy & Care: Digital Parental Support via ChatHealth messaging in December 2023

 

 

Evidence

Implementing a text messaging service for parents and carers of young children

Article published in RCNi Primary Health Care journal

Here’s a selection of our partners…

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HealthWebsites

Health for Under 5s is part of our suite of HealthWebsites alongside Health for Kids and Health for Teens. Co-designed with parents, carers and families, this award-winning website is designed to support prospective and new parents and carers through their child’s early years.

We work in partnership with other NHS providers to boost the online presence of health visiting teams and their partner services. Local Area sections are managed by local partners to provide information on local advice, events and support services and see their local health visiting offer.

Health for Under 5s

Health for Under 5s  covers everything that new and prospective parents and carers need to know about through their child’s development, from pregnancy through to the preschool years.

Number of visitors

640,283

visits to healthforunder5s.co.uk in 2024-25

(2024-25)

Number of Local Areas

10

Local Areas
delivered by NHS partners

(2024-25)

Most Visited Pages

  1. Article: Top tips for ditching the dummy
  2. Hertfordshire Local Area: Support services
  3. Hampshire Local Area: Support services
(2024-25)

Service User Experience

72%

of Health for Under 5s visitors said the information helped them

(2024-25)

Where Visitors Came From

  • Search engines
  • Direct
  • NHS provider websites
(2024-25)

Accessibility

45,142

visitors used the accessibility toolbar for text-to-speech, reading and translation support.

(2024-25)

Here’s a selection of our partners…

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