The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impacts on babies, children, families and communities – as well as health visiting teams who supported them across the UK (see UK COVID-19 Inquiry).
During the pandemic, the iHV worked to influence national policy and support health visiting practice in a number of ways, including:
- Development and publication of open access “Health Visiting Advice” to augment national policy and guidance.
- Development of two bespoke COVID-19 sections of the iHV website – one with advice and national guidance for practitioners, and the other for parents with babies and young children.
- The development of a bespoke suite of ‘iHV Parent Tips’ for parenting in the pandemic, on a range of topics including coping with crying, managing common minor illnesses and the 6-week baby check.
- Online iHV Insights webinars and Networking events for practitioners, to support information sharing and discussion on key priority topics relevant to health visiting during the pandemic.
- Collation of frontline practitioner intelligence on the state of health visiting through iHV national health visiting surveys, as well as meetings, webinars and correspondence with our members. The iHV also supported research on health visiting in the pandemic led by universities.
- Adaptation and delivery of iHV’s established Continuous Professional Development programmes and training using virtual delivery methods.
- The development of a bespoke iHV Emotional Wellbeing at Work programme to support practitioners manage the additional stressors of working as a health visitor during the pandemic.
The iHV website during the pandemic has been archived – access to the archived content can be granted on request. Use the contact us form below.
For historical purposes, in this section of our website, we have retained a small selection of resources for reference.
The UK COVID-19 Inquiry was set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future.
Alison Morton, iHV CEO, was called as a key witness by The Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett DBE; and provided written evidence for both Module 3 – ‘Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems in the 4 nations of the UK’ and Module 8 ‘Children and Young People’.
On 8 October 2025, Alison Morton also appeared before the UK COVID-19 Inquiry to provide oral evidence in relation to matters concerning babies, children and families, public health policy and the impact of the pandemic on health visiting services. In her capacity as CEO, Alison addressed the Inquiry on issues pertaining to the safeguarding of vulnerable families, the operational challenges faced during the pandemic, and the implications for workforce resilience and service delivery.
Witness Statements
📖 Read Alison Morton’s written witness statement for Module 3 here.
📖 Read Alison Morton's written witness statement for Module 8 here.
🔗 All reports, evidence exhibits and records related to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and investigations are available on its website.
Recordings
🎥 Watch a short clip of Alison at the COVID-19 Inquiry Module 8 Public Hearings
🎥 Watch the full Module 8, 8 October PM session, with Alison Morton - Alison starts at 34:56
📖 Read the full transcript here
✍️ iHV Voices Blog “Is a secondary pandemic on its way?” (6 April 2020
📖 Institute of Health Visiting (8 April 2020). Health visiting during COVID-19: An iHV report
📖 Institute of Health Visiting (10 September 2020). Making history: Health visiting during Covid-19
📖 Conti, G., & Dow, A. (2020b). The impacts of COVID-19 on health visiting in England first results
On 27 March 2020, the iHV published a series of short practical advice resources for health visiting during the pandemic. These were developed in collaboration with colleagues in the Chief Nurse Directorate at Public Health England. The advice was not intended to be an operations manual or national policy. Rather, it was a suite of short advice to assist health visiting providers to apply national guidance in practice.
This included professional advice for:
- The Antenatal Contact – version 1
- The New Birth Visit – version 1
- Virtual Contacts –version 1
- Working with Vulnerable Families – version 1
- Family Perinatal Mental Health – version 1 (was published the following week).
As national policy changed, on 19 June 2020, the iHV published updated professional advice in partnership with PHE:
- The Antenatal Contact – version 2
- The New Birth Visit – version 2
- Virtual Contacts –version 2
- Working with Vulnerable Families – version 2
- Family Perinatal Mental Health – version 2