Guidance

Supporting public health: children, young people and families

Documents to help local authorities and providers commission and deliver maternal and child public health services from preconception up to 24 years.

Applies to England

Documents

Maternity high impact area 1: Improving planning and preparation for pregnancy

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Maternity high impact area 2: Supporting good parental mental health

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Maternity high impact area 3: Supporting healthy weight before and between pregnancies

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Maternity high impact area 4: Reducing the incidence of harms caused by alcohol in pregnancy

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Maternity high impact area 5: Supporting parents to have a smokefree pregnancy

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Maternity high impact area 6: Reducing the inequality of outcomes for women from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and their babies

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Health visiting and school nursing service delivery model

Early years high impact area 1: Supporting the transition to parenthood

Early years high impact area 2: Supporting maternal and family mental health

Early years high impact area 3: Supporting breastfeeding

Early years high impact area 4: Supporting healthy weight and nutrition

Early years high impact area 6: Ready to learn and narrowing the word gap

School-aged years high impact area 1: Supporting resilience and wellbeing

School-aged years high impact area 3: Supporting healthy lifestyles

Details

These documents have been updated to reflect new policy drivers and evidence. The documents identify:

  • 6 areas where local maternity systems have the highest impact on the health and wellbeing of women and their babies from preconception to 6 to 8 weeks post-partum
  • 6 areas where health visitors have the highest impact on the health and wellbeing of children aged 0 to 5 years
  • 6 areas where school nurses have the highest impact on the health and wellbeing of school aged children aged 5 to 19 years

The high impact areas support delivery of Healthy Child Programme: preconception to 6 to 8 weeks, the Healthy Child Programme: pregnancy and the first 5 years of life and Healthy Child Programme: from 5 to 24 years old.

For further information for providers and commissioners across the Healthy Child Programme, access the pathways for healthy pregnancy, speech and language and health visiting.

Download the pathway and infographic for understanding female genital mutilation (FGM) to help midwives, health visitors, school nurses and practice nurses support women and girls at risk of or following FGM.

The documents are mainly intended for use by commissioners of health visiting and school nursing, and local authorities, to ensure that health visiting and school nursing services are commissioned effectively.

Commissioning children and young people’s public health services is the responsibility of the local authority.

Published 1 July 2014
Last updated 19 May 2021 + show all updates
  1. Added Care continuity between midwifery and health visiting guidance.

  2. Added 6 new early years and 6 new school-aged years HIA guides, the Health visiting and school nursing service delivery model and Population health needs assessment documents.

  3. Added 6 new PDFs about maternity high impact areas.

  4. Updated to include the 6 maternity high impact area guides.

  5. Updated set of (13) documents to reflect new policy drivers and evidence.

  6. Updated high impact area guidance for early years, added documents for school aged years high impact areas and links to supporting infographics.

  7. First published.