The importance of health visiting for babies and their families

A Better Start (ABS) was a 10-year programme and £215 million investment across five local areas running between 2015-2025. Across the five ABS sites – Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham and Southend on-Sea – partnerships have worked alongside or directly with health visiting services to test, enhance and evaluate models of early years support. Evidence from ABS sites demonstrates that strengthening health visiting – through additional universal contacts, sustained home-visiting programmes for families at greatest risk, and paid peer workforces that complement professional teams – improves outcomes for babies, parents and communities, particularly in areas of high deprivation. It also builds capacity, generates employment, and reduces longer-term pressure on health, education and social care systems. More…..