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Childcare

Health visitor

Health visitors work with families with a child aged 0 to 5 to identify health needs, promote healthy lifestyles and prevent illness.

Annual Salary

£35,000 to £60,000

Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)

Working hours

38 to 40 a week

You could work: evenings; on a rota

3.8%
Future employment

There will be 3.8% more Health visitor jobs in 2027.

Day to day tasks

As a health visitor, you could:

  • advise new parents on baby feeding, hygiene, safety and sleep
  • support parents with their children's development needs
  • coordinate child immunisation programmes
  • organise clinics or drop in centres
  • work 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.

You can get into this job through an apprenticeship or by working toward this role.

Apprenticeship

If you are a qualified registered nurse or midwife, you may be able to do a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse Level 7 Degree Apprenticeship.

This typically takes a year and 6 months to complete as a mix of learning on the job and study.

Entry requirements

To do this apprenticeship, you'll need:

  • to be a registered nurse
For more information
Work

You can apply for health visitor training if you're a registered midwife or nurse in any branch of nursing.

You'll need to complete the Specialist Community Public Health Nursing - Health Visiting course which is approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Your training can be full time or part time and will last between 1 to 2 years.

Requirements and restrictions

You'll need to:

More information

Career tips

You'll be expected to understand how the NHS values apply in your work when applying for a course or an apprenticeship.

Further information

You can get more advice about how to become a health visitor from Health Careers.

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With experience you could:specialise in an area like working with teenage parents or people that need mental health support; progress to team manager, community matron or a healthcare management role; move into education, training or academic research

You'll find more details about how to become a health visitor from Health Careers.

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

You'll need:

  • sensitivity and understanding
  • active listening skills
  • the ability to work well with others
  • the ability to understand people’s reactions
  • knowledge of psychology
  • the ability to use your initiative
  • to be flexible and open to change
  • administration skills
  • the ability to come up with new ways of doing things
  • to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
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