Development of a toolkit for health visiting service providers

In a study published by Journal of Health Visiting, Picker aimed to develop a toolkit that can be used by health visiting service providers to measure and understand the experiences of families accessing their services. An existing health visiting service user experience questionnaire was reviewed by key stakeholders to ensure it was nationally relevant, before being cognitively tested on service users. It was then piloted with two service providers in England using a three-stage postal methodology (an initial mailing followed by two reminders to non-responders). The survey was sent with a covering letter to 1200 parents who had recently accessed the health visiting service. The pilot yielded a 25% response rate and provided actionable feedback on key aspects of person centred care, including accessing the health visiting service, emotional support, information provision and communication with staff.

The new toolkit can be licensed by health visiting service providers to assist them with measuring the experiences of families accessing their services. Additionally, the feedback can be used to facilitate improvements in care delivery and inform service provision, taking into account family needs as well as local and national priorities.