The Health Specialist Initiative

Abstract

The health specialist initiative aimed to develop closer working practices between health and social care practitioners by providing health input into assessments for child safeguarding and child protection. As part of this initiative, health visitors were transferred to work within social work child welfare teams, where they were renamed `health specialists' (health visitors are registered nurses or midwives, with additional specialized training and experience in child health, health promotion, and education, usually located in primary health care settings). This initiative aimed to develop closer working practices between health and social care and to provide comprehensive health input into assessments for child safeguarding and child protection. This evaluation found that the health specialist initiative is an example of a successful collaboration between health and social care in terms of both processes and outcomes. The health specialist was influential in improving communication and informationow between these two sets of professionals, increasing social worker knowledge of child health and development and strengthening assessments undertaken within social care. However, consideration needs to be given to the clinical health super- vision needs of the health workers based within a host organization. The health specialist initiative has important lessons and experiences for establishing partner- ship initiatives in practice settings for other children's services.