Health Visitors
Health Visitors are nurses or midwives who are passionate about promoting healthy lifestyles and preventing illness. They work with pregnant women through to a child’s fifth birthday. Their role is to help families adjust to being new parents, and provide information and reassurance to support a baby or young child’s health, wellbeing and development.
Health visitors can help and support you to make healthy choices for yourself and your family. Health Visitors are based locally and visit families at home or through a clinic.
During the first few years parents or carers will be invited to see a member of the health visiting team to check that their child is meeting their developmental milestones – we call these core contacts.
The Health Visitors offer a minimum of 5 core contacts within the first 5 years. Families will routinely be offered the following appointments either face to face or over the phone:
Antenatal (whilst you are pregnant)
New birth (usually between 10-14 days)
6-8 week review
9-12 month review
2-2.5 year review
If you need support outside of these key stages you can contact your health visitor and request additional contact.
East Mendip Health Visiting Team are also available for a drop-in session, located in The Elliott Building, Frome Town Hall, every Wednesday from 1pm-2:30pm. This is a friendly and fun session so that parents and carers can access health advice, meet others, weigh their baby and play.
Other things they can help with
- Infant feeding and breastfeeding advice
- Child development
- Immunisations
- Healthy weight and physical activity
- Emotional health and wellbeing
- Parenting and local support groups
- Behaviour
- Sleep
How to contact the Health Visitors in Frome:
Health Visitors are available Monday- Friday 9am – 5pm
You can call 0300 323 0118 to speak to a Duty Health Visitor or to book an appointment.
You can also use our free Under 5’s texting service Chat Health by sending a Text Message to 07480 635514
Email: eastmendiphealthvisitors@somerset.gov.uk
Facebook: Frome Health Visitors | Facebook
If you would like to find out more please visit The role of a health visitor (somerset.gov.uk)
School Nurse Team
School nurses are public health nurses who work with 5 to 19 year-olds, including children educated in school and those who are educated at home. They give confidential advice, care and treatment to children and young people, and work with parents and carers in schools and other community settings.
School nurses work to improve the health and wellbeing of school aged children and young people. They can also help with conversations between health and education.
A school nurse helps by:
- Empowering children and young people to make healthy lifestyle choices
- Providing a point of contact for children and young people, parents or carers, and schools that need health advice or information. This may involve assessing individual needs, offering advice and referring to other services, as necessary
- Supporting children and young people with some on-going or specific health needs. This may include children with complex health needs or a learning or physical disability
- Children looked after health reviews
Some of the areas a School Nurse could help you with are:
- Sexual health
- Mental health
- Alcohol, smoking and substance misuse
- Healthy lifestyles
- Toileting
- Behaviour
How to contact a School Nurse in Frome:
School Nurses are available Monday – Friday 9am-5pm.
You can call 0300 790 9852. You will need to leave a voicemail and someone will call you back. Please be aware that this may not be on the same working day.
You can use our free texting service Chat health.
Chat Health
Chat Health is an initiative which was launched in June 2020 and managed by the School Nurse Team. This is a nationally recognised, secure and confidential text messaging for young people. It allows them to access health care professionals easily and anonymously for advice and support.
If you are a parent of a child aged 5-19 years send a message to 07480 635515
If you are a young person aged 11-19 years send a message to 07480 635516
Email: mendipsn@somerset.gov.uk
If you would like to find out more please visit School nurses (somerset.gov.uk)
