On Wednesday 11 March 2015, Pauline Bigwood, a specialist public health nurse at CSH Surrey (left in photo), will be one of just three Health Visitors from Surrey (and 150 nationally) to be recognised for her outstanding contribution to the profession by being accepted to join the prestigious Institute of Health Visiting’s Fellowship programme.
Pauline will be awarded the Fellowship at a celebration event in central London on Wednesday 11th March 2015. The ceremony, the first of its kind for the Institute of Health Visiting, recognises the professional achievement of ‘exceptional health visitors’ – creating a new country-wide group of expert and confident leaders who make a real difference to the health outcomes of children and their families.
Pauline (left in photo, with Children and Families colleagues launching a Vitamin D public health campaign in July 2014) qualified as a Health Visitor over 20 years ago, is a clinical advisor on health visiting to the Parliamentary Ombudsman and is also a professional practice teacher for student health visitors.
Pauline has been instrumental in supporting CSH Surrey’s 0-19 teams deliver the national Healthy Child Programme, meaning children and families in the mid Surrey area (covering Epsom, Ewell, Leatherhead, Dorking and Elmbridge) are more supported than ever by their local health visiting, school nursing and community nursery nursing teams.
Jo Pritchard, Chief Executive of CSH Surrey and a health visitor herself, will be attending the celebration event on 11th March. She says: “Pauline makes an outstanding contribution to our health visiting service and has been selected as a Fellow following a rigorous assessment process. I am thrilled that Pauline’s commitment, professionalism, leadership and practice have been recognised in this way by the Institute of Health Visiting.”
Dr Cheryll Adams, Director of the Institute of Visiting, says: “Our Fellows are already really strengthening leadership in the health visiting profession and will now help develop the next generation of health visitors. So what better, than on NHS Change Day (11th March), to celebrate 150 health visiting change agents who demonstrate there is immense talent in our profession and who will lead the way to ensure excellence in practice.”
The Fellowship scheme, launched in May 2014 and sponsored by the Department of Health, set out to identify and acknowledge 150 exceptional health visitors who have made a real difference to health outcomes for children and families in England.
To become a Fellow, Pauline Bigwood went through a rigorous application process in which she was assessed for her contribution to health visiting and also to children, families and communities. Each Fellow needed to demonstrate excellence in practice and also their leadership potential. They had to submit three testimonials, one from a family, one from a peer and one from a senior manager.
Since being accepted, all Fellows have undertaken a special four-day leadership development programme before the conferment ceremony on 11 March. There they will be acknowledged as “expert and confident” health visitor leaders who are ready to become local ambassadors for health visiting, as well as for the Institute of Health Visiting. Looking to the future, the Fellows will be well-placed to support health visiting commissioning as it moves to local authorities in October 2015.
Dr Adams continued: “Becoming a Fellow is just the start of an exciting journey with the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV). Together, the Fellows and the Institute will develop the next generation of health visitors, and integrate new policy and research into practice. Fellows and the iHV will ensure that health visitors continue to make a real difference to the health outcomes of children and their families.”