Lacnet description of  community nurses work makes it clear this is a
valuable service - but it's still not quite the same as UK health visitors,
who I still think may be unique (though I have just remembered the Plunkett
nurses in New Zealand who do something similar but not the same). I should
have made it more clear that the 'use' of the health visitor has a strong
element of being client-led - you can go and see, or ask for a visit from ,
your health visitor any time you want, if you have a kid under five. Some
HVs work with families with older children and with older people, and there
are specialist HVs who work with special needs families,  but the statutory
service - the one every family, sick or healthy,  has a legal right to - is
for families with under-fives.

This valuable service is under threat in various places though because of
funding difficulties, which has meant that case loads have grown and home
visits are less frequent.

To get it back to bf, the best health visitors are (at best) a wonderful
resource for bf mothers because they give long-term continuity.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK