Public Health Nursing for 0 to 5 years olds and Smoking in Pregnancy services

The HCP 0-5 is a prevention and early intervention public health programme that lies at the heart of the universal service for children and families and aims to support parents at this crucial stage of life, promote child development, improve child health outcomes and ensure that families at risk are identified at the earliest opportunity. The 0-5 element of the Healthy Child Programme is led primarily by health visiting services, providing place-based services and working in partnership with other early year providers including midwifery, Family Hubs, and early years inclusion teams. Health visitors, as public health nurses, use strength-based approaches, building non-dependent relationships to enable efficient and effective working with parents and families to support behaviour change, promote health protection and to keep children safe. The smoking in pregnancy service sits within the health visiting pathway and offers women who smoke and their families support to stop smoking and maintain a smoke free home environment. It is a robust opt out service that continues to offer support to engaging and non-engaging clients from conception up to the child’s first birthday.