iHV

In support of World Earth Day 2024 (#EarthDay), we are delighted to broadcast our latest iHV Podcast with Professor Charlotte McArdle who leads the nursing profession’s response to sustainable healthcare in England, recognising the role that nurses and midwives play to reduce climate change, and making strong links between the health of the planet and the health of the population.

In this episode, Charlotte and Alison discuss:

• The importance of nurses’, midwives’ and health visitors’ role in health equity – tackling the social determinants of health, including preventing global emergencies, such as climate change.
• The background to the “Nurses for Health Equity” report and subsequent steps that are being taken across the globe to build a united “voice” for the nursing family which has the potential to drive real change.
• The forthcoming CNO Plan for Nursing and Midwifery in England, particularly the pillar focused on “protecting our planet”.
• Charlotte concludes with her hopes for focused action by nurses, midwives and health visitors in four key areas:

• Prevention and early intervention – working together with “one voice”, engaging in population health approaches.
• Quality improvement applied to climate change – using improvement science methods to lead innovation.
• Co-production – working with people, families and communities to develop new sustainability approaches.
• Decarbonising our care processes – for example, reducing the use of single use plastics, and supporting families with ways to become more sustainable, including various approaches to address the current high carbon footprint of disposable nappies, sanitary and period products.

This episode takes a deep dive into the world of childhood vaccinations, discussing the current measles surge and falling rates of MMR vaccine uptake. What’s the scale of the problem? How serious is it? And most importantly what can we do about it? - both as a whole system, and also specifically for us as health visitors. How can we focus our efforts to make the biggest difference?  

In this episode, Helen and Alison discuss:

• Why vaccines are so important.
• Current vaccination rates and the main reasons why they are falling.
• Ways to tackle the problem – particularly the health visitor’s role in prevention, personalised support, and improving access to vaccinations.

iHV SCPHN Student Health Visitor Award Winner 2023 (3rd place), Robin Williams, speaks with Amanda Holland, iHV Professional Services Lead.

Robin talks about how she identified a gap in the involvement of fathers in home visits by health visitors and her initiative to engage and include fathers.

iHV SCPHN Student Health Visitor Award Winner 2023 (2nd place), Claire Black, speaks with Amanda Holland, iHV Professional Services Lead. Claire discusses how she worked collaboratively with other professionals to meet the nutritional needs and food preferences of Afghan families.

Please note – in this podcast the term ‘weaning’ is used and refers to complementary feeding. These terms continue to be used interchangeably, however, we recognise ‘complementary feeding’ as the preferred term in accordance with WHO.

iHV SCPHN Student Health Visitor Award Winner 2023 (1st place), Leonie Grundy, speaks with Amanda Holland, iHV Professional Services Lead.

Leonie shares how she led activities to film a series of evidence-based safe sleep demonstrations for use on social media, within antenatal classes, and safe sleep training.

Listen to our latest iHV podcast. Vicky Gilroy, iHV’s Head of Projects and Evaluation, talks to Consultant Paediatrician Sanjay Patel who has been instrumental in developing the Healthier Together Website and resources to support professionals and families access clear information on common illnesses, including advice on what serious 'red-flag' signs to look out for, where to seek help if required, what you should do to keep comfortable and how long symptoms are likely to last.

We are aware from both parents and practitioners that recognition of illness in babies with black and brown skin can be hard. This podcast explores with Sanjay his top tips and guidance from many years of clinical practice, to support your practice alongside raising the importance of listening to parents/carers and taking their concerns seriously.

Alison Morton, iHV’s CEO, talks to Dilys Daws on her observations of ‘Standing next to the weighing scales’.

Dilys is one of the most important child psychotherapists of her generation and has had an impressive career that spans more than half a century. Since 1976, she has been transforming the lives of parents and their babies, working in primary care with health visitors and also at the Tavistock Clinic in London.

Alison Morton, iHV's Executive Director, talks to Greg Fell, Director of Public Health in Sheffield, on health inequalities and the role of the state - in particular, the concept of the nanny state.

What is our role as public health practitioners? Are we interfering where it is not needed? Should we just stand down, and let people get on with their lives?