The effectiveness of health services: the case of health visiting

This article challenges the belief that health visiting is ineffective. Rebutting the arguments of some of health visiting's detractors, the authors point to a wealth of evidence that health visiting is effective. They acknowledge, however, that current methods of evaluating the effectiveness of many health services are far from perfect, and that some of the benefits of services like health visiting are more easily ascertained than others. The article discusses the dangers of defining such services as health visiting as technologies, arguing that ultimately, this is leading to a restriction in the kinds of activities which are seen as the proper domain of professionals such as health visitors. It is concluded that future debates concerning the effectiveness of health visiting must acknowledge the limitations of both current definitions of health visiting, and methods of evaluating health services. Finally, in looking to the future of health visiting, it is concluded health visitors have a far broader role to play than merely assuming responsibilities cast off by doctors.