Bunting C, Clery A, McGrath-Lone L, Liu M, Kendall S, Bedford H, Cavallaro F, Saloniki E C, Harron K, Woodman J
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.
Social Research Institute, University College London, London WC1H 0AA, UK.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2025 Feb 28;47(1):82-89. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdae259.
The health visiting service in UK promotes the health and wellbeing of families with young children and comprises a universal offer (three mandated contacts between birth and 12 months) and additional contacts based on need. We aimed to understand how the level of health visiting support received varies by family characteristics.
Using the Community Services Data Set linked to Hospital Episode Statistics, we identified 52 555 children in 10 local authorities with complete health visiting data for 12 months between April 2016 and March 2020. We analysed variation in health visiting contacts by deprivation, child ethnicity, maternal age, adversity and previous live births.
41 340/52 555 children (79%) received the universal service; 63% received ≥1 additional contact and 25% received ≥3 additional contacts. The likelihood of receiving ≥3 additional contacts was greatest for children whose mothers had a history of hospital admissions relating to mental health, violence, self-harm or substance misuse (adjusted relative risk = 1.55, 95% confidence interval 1.26-1.92).
Most families received health visiting support in addition to the universal service. Policymakers and commissioners should consider how health visiting services can be expanded or targeted more effectively to ensure all families receive the support they need.
英国的健康访视服务旨在促进有幼儿家庭的健康和福祉，包括一项普及服务（出生至12个月期间的三次法定接触）以及根据需求提供的额外接触。我们旨在了解所接受的健康访视支持水平如何因家庭特征而异。
利用与医院 Episode 统计数据相关联的社区服务数据集，我们在10个地方当局中识别出52555名儿童，这些儿童在2016年4月至2020年3月期间有完整的12个月健康访视数据。我们分析了按贫困程度、儿童种族、母亲年龄、逆境和以前的活产数划分的健康访视接触差异。
52555名儿童中有41340名（79%）接受了普及服务；63%的儿童接受了≥1次额外接触，25%的儿童接受了≥3次额外接触。母亲有与心理健康、暴力、自残或药物滥用相关的住院史的儿童接受≥3次额外接触的可能性最大（调整后的相对风险 = 1.55，95%置信区间1.26 - 1.92）。
大多数家庭除了接受普及服务外，还获得了健康访视支持。政策制定者和服务提供者应考虑如何更有效地扩大或针对性地提供健康访视服务，以确保所有家庭都能获得他们所需的支持。
