title: Best practice at the new birth review?
abstract: This paper aims to discuss the infant assessment component of the new birth review. The Healthy Child Programme (HCP) is the guidance that underpins the practice of health visiting at this contact. It should be clearly stated that this article is not referring to the Newborn and Infant Physical Examinations (NIPE) undertaken by medical practitioners and midwives at birth and by GPs at six weeks respectively. From reviewing other provider organisations' health visiting standards online, through discussions at professional. health visiting forums such as The National Professional Advisory Group and from the authors small qualitative study as part of a master's dissertation there appears to be a wide variation in health visiting practice. There are health visiting (HV) services that offer a universal infant assessment, while other HV services assess the infant in other ways at the request of the parent. However, some services do not undertake an infant assessment at all. The Health Visiting Core Specification states that the health visitor should be able to assess the baby's growth and be able to conduct an ongoing review. This paper discusses the historical background that underpins the different approaches and discusses the implications for different practice at a universal healthy child programme contact. The author discusses tools that evidence
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Turney
mesh_terms: D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based; D006801:Humans; D000068104:Infant Health; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D010808:Physical Examination; D006113:United Kingdom