Devon Public Health Nursing

Updated 23 January 2023

Devon Public Health Nursing provides health visiting and school nursing services across Devon. They deliver universal child and family health services and provide ongoing additional services for vulnerable children and families. The team is made up of health visitors, school nurses, staff nurses and community health workers. Health visitors and school nurses are qualified nurses or midwives with post-registration experience with additional experience and training and education in child health, health promotion, public health and education.

Devon Public Health Nursing have hubs which operate from a single point of contact for families and professionals for all Public Health Nursing services across a specified geographical area. They bring together clinicians and administrative processes for phone advice, scheduling appointments and triaging referrals and information received.

The service was provided by Devon County Council and was registered for the following regulated activity:

• The treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The service was previously delivered by an independent health provider and transferred over to Devon County Council in 2019. The service has not previously been inspected.

What people who use the service say

People using the service said that staff were approachable, friendly, helpful and reassuring. They said they were spoken to with respect and care which made the visits personal and comforting. People using the service felt they could trust staff and felt they were in good hands.

People using the service said that staff helped them with breastfeeding, listened well to them and had time for them and their baby. People said the process was easy, from needing the appointment to attending it. People said it was great to have consistency with the health visitors.

Some people said they thought it was a shame some of the drop in sessions were no longer running. Some people said they thought it would benefit people more having face to face contact, not via video link. Some people said they would like more regular appointments and would like to get a few of the clinics back that were running before the pandemic.

Updated 23 January 2023

Devon Public Health Nursing provides health visiting and school nursing services across Devon. They deliver universal child and family health services and provide ongoing targeted and specialist services for vulnerable children and families. The team is made up of health visitors, school nurses, staff nurses and community health workers.

We rated it as good because:

• Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect children, young people and their families from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to children and young people, acted on them and kept good care records. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• Staff provided good care and treatment and supported children and young people with their nutrition and hydration. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of children, young people and their families, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information.
• Staff treated children, young people and their families with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their health and wellbeing. They provided emotional support to children and young people, families and carers.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of children and young people’s individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
• Leaders ran services well and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of children and young people receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with children, young people and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

• The service did not have enough staff to provide services to all of the identified contacts in Devon County Council.
• The provider did not have an intuitive and integrated information system.
• Not all staff were aware of the Duty of Candour and how they learnt from incidents.
• Appraisal and supervision rates appeared to be low due to not all being centrally documented.
• Some male parents and carers felt that more work could be done to include them.
• There were delays in staff completing two year reviews.
• Some staff had unequal working terms and conditions due to the variance between the Local Authority terms and conditions and ‘agenda for change’.

Updated 23 January 2023