Health visitor
Health visitors work with families in their own homes to promote healthy lifestyles and prevent illness.
Salary range: £30,401 to £43,772
How to become a health visitor
You can get into this job through:
- working towards this role
Work
You can apply for training if you’re a registered nurse or midwife. Any branch of nursing is acceptable.
You’ll complete a course in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing – Health Visiting, approved by the Nursing & Midwifery Council.
Courses can be full time or part time and last between 1 and 2 years.
More information
Registration
- you’ll need to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council
Further information
You’ll find more details about how to become a health visitor from Health Careers.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You’ll need:
- customer service skills
- the ability to work well with others
- the ability to use your initiative
- to be flexible and open to change
- sensitivity and understanding
- to enjoy working with other people
- the ability to come up with new ways of doing things
- knowledge of teaching and the ability to design courses
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
Restrictions and requirements
You’ll need to:
What you’ll do
Day-to-day tasks
Your day-to-day duties may include:
- giving advice to new parents on feeding babies, hygiene, safety and sleeping
- supporting parents with their children’s development needs
- coordinating child immunisation programmes
- organising special clinics or drop-in centres
- supporting children with special needs
- advising on how to reduce the risk of accident and injury
- working closely with social services and other organisations to safeguard and protect children
Working environment
You could work at a client’s home, at a health centre or at a GP practice.
Your working environment may be physically and emotionally demanding and you’ll travel often.
Career path and progression
With experience, you could progress to team manager, community matron or a management role in another department of the NHS.
You could also go into nurse education and training.