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"Health visitor never got back to me"

About: Locala Community Partnerships CIC / Health visiting

(as the patient),

When my son was 6 months old, I rang my health visitor and asked for her help as I was struggling to cope. She came out and had a chat with me and told me to visit my GP and that she would be back in a few months to make sure we were ok. I went to my GP and was diagnosed with post natal depression. I am lucky that I have a great GP who didn't worry about the appointment length but sat and talked to me until we had figured out the best way to deal with it. I waited for my health visitor to get back in touch but this never came. When my son was around 18 months old, I had still not heard from her and tried to call but the number I had in my red book was a dead line and it took ages of searching online to find the right number.

My son is now 27 months old and I still haven't heard from the health visitor other than to have my son's 2 year check with a nursery nurse. I would like to stress that I do not blame the individual health visitor as I'm sure she did the best with the resources she had but on this occasion (and 2 other mums that I am aware of) the service as a whole failed.

It's just lucky that my GP was so great as this could have ended very differently.

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Responses

Response from Emma Dickens, Head of Communications and Engagement, Locala Community Partnerships CIC 7 years ago
Emma Dickens
Head of Communications and Engagement,
Locala Community Partnerships CIC
Submitted on 21/07/2016 at 15:04
Published on Care Opinion on 22/07/2016 at 11:06


Hello

Thank you for sharing your experience. I am very sorry that the service let you down and that you were never contacted again as you had been promised. Particularly give the difficult time that you were having.

I am pleased that you were able to get the help and support that you needed, and that it sounds like you are now doing well, however should you wish your experience of the health visiting service to be looked at in more detail I can do so if you email me with your contact details.

Otherwise, my sincere apologies again, and best wishes for you and your family.

Emma

emma.dickens@locala.org.uk

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