How to Become a Health Visitor

To enjoy a successful career as a health visitor you need to have a strong sense of community. Health visitors must be strong, positive people who are able to share valuable health messages with a cross-section of society, without being patronising. It is a largely female-dominated profession, although the NHS are actively recruiting both sexes, with benefits including a solid career path, a stable future, flexibility regarding childcare and career breaks and the possibility of earning a good salary.

NHS and Private Opportunities

The vast majority of health visitors in the UK are employed by the NHS, under local health care trusts, although some private health care providers employ health visitors for particular services, such as smoking cessation or midwifery. The NHS employs health visitors primarily for home visits, although it also uses health visitors for special clinics, again including smoking cessation (an important focus for the NHS at the moment), weight loss (including healthy eating), diabetes maintenance and stress management.

The Role of the Health Visitor

The core purpose of a health visitor is to promote good health in the community, as such, much of their work is done in the homes of the public. They tend to visit at set times following a request from the person’s GP, following the birth of a baby, the requirement to check on the health of a child or adult or to assess the progress of the person after attending one of the special clinics.

With health visitors going into people’s homes, they need to be strong and confident and appreciate that they will often be needed in deprived areas or with at risk groups. Consequently, it can be a very demanding, often stressful role.

Training

The vast majority of health visitors are trained nurses or midwives who then take extra training to become a fully qualified health visitor. This is usually completed in addition to working full time, although you can choose to work part time and study part time, or gain additional practical experience.

Salary Expectations

The starting salary for a qualified health visitor is around £25,000, not including London weighting (which is around a further 20%) or allowances for bank work, overtime or shift work. After gaining three years experience, this basic salary rises to around £33,000, with a further three to five years experience yielding around £40,000 basic salary.

Working Hours

Most health visitors tend to work ‘normal’ office hours of 9am-5pm because they are able to arrange appointments, clinics and home visits within these hours. However, you must be prepared to work unsociable hours if needed, or to be on call at least once a month.

The Right Character

It is clear from the job description of a health visitor that you need to be hard working, focused on health and wellbeing and good with people. You need to be a good listener and be able to pick up on signs, rather than being bossy and dominating as you will be in potentially damaging domestic situations. It is not a glamorous role, but rather a fulfilling, rewarding and ultimately satisfying career for a health professional.

More Roles in the Caring Profession

For other careers in the caring profession, including Becoming A Midwife and A Nurse, visit our Caring and Education Category.