Welcome to Hunter Gatherer Mental Health, your specialist partner for health visitor recruitment across the UK.
We connect health visitors with NHS trusts, community health providers and 0–19 public health services, and help services find qualified practitioners who can carry caseloads safely and independently from day one. Whether you need urgent locum cover or a long-term permanent hire, we respond quickly and match on qualification and experience.
What is Health Visiting?
Health visiting is a specialist community public health nursing practice focused on the health and wellbeing of children from pre-birth to five years, and their families. Health visitors are qualified nurses or midwives who have completed the Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) programme – a post-registration degree-level qualification that registers them on a separate part of the NMC register as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse.
Health visitors work autonomously across a geographical patch, managing a caseload of families and delivering the Healthy Child Programme – the national framework for universal child health promotion and early intervention in England. Their work spans routine child health surveillance, developmental assessment, health promotion, infant feeding support, and targeted work with families experiencing significant vulnerability or disadvantage. Safeguarding is central to the role: health visitors often carry the highest safeguarding caseloads within a community health service.
Why Services Choose Hunter Gatherer for Health Visitor Recruitment:
- SCPHN qualification confirmed, not assumed Health visiting requires the Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) qualification – not just NMC registration. We verify SCPHN status, current NMC registration, enhanced DBS and relevant health visiting experience before any candidate goes forward.
- Experienced caseload practitioners Health visiting is highly autonomous public health work. We only put forward health visitors with active health visiting experience who can manage complex family caseloads, deliver the Healthy Child Programme, and handle safeguarding responsibilities independently from day one.
- Locum and permanent placements Short-notice cover or a planned permanent hire – we support both with the same rigour.
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What Health Visitors Do:
Health visitor responsibilities typically include:
- Delivering the Healthy Child Programme – antenatal contacts, new birth visits, developmental reviews at 6–8 weeks, 9–12 months, 2–2½ years
- Managing a defined caseload of families with children aged 0–5, including universal, universal plus and universal partnership plus levels of support
- Conducting developmental assessments – monitoring physical, cognitive and social-emotional development
- Providing infant feeding support – breastfeeding advice, formula guidance, introduction of solids
- Identifying and acting on safeguarding concerns – attending child protection conferences, core groups and multi-agency meetings
- Supporting families with perinatal mental health difficulties – identifying postnatal depression and facilitating appropriate referrals
- Delivering targeted interventions for families experiencing disadvantage, domestic abuse, parental mental health issues or substance misuse
- Health promotion and parenting support – running clinics, drop-in sessions, parenting groups
- Coordinating with GPs, midwives, nurseries, social care, school nurses and early years providers
Qualifications We Look For:
Every health visitor we place holds:
- Active NMC registration with the SCPHN qualification recorded on Part 3 of the NMC register – this is the essential statutory qualification for health visiting, distinct from general nursing registration
- Post-qualification experience delivering the Healthy Child Programme and managing an independent health visiting caseload
- Enhanced DBS with children’s barred list – mandatory for all health visiting placements
- Current mandatory training including safeguarding children at the appropriate level (Level 3 as a minimum for health visitors)
- A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle – required for the home visiting component of health visiting work
Locum Health Visiting Opportunities:
Locum health visiting offers the chance to work across different community health services, build breadth of experience with diverse family populations, and maintain professional skills between permanent posts. Whether you want a short-term block to fit around other commitments or a longer-term locum arrangement within a 0–19 service, we’ll find opportunities that match your qualifications and availability.
We have active health visitor requirements across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh and beyond.
Health Visitor Pay Rates (2025/26):
Health visiting is a specialist public health qualification and the locum market reflects this. Band 6 health visitors – the standard caseload holder grade across most NHS and community services – typically earn £30–£36 per hour as a locum, with London and high-cost area placements reaching the higher end. Live locum listings show Band 6 health visitors earning £30–£35/hr in community NHS settings.
Band 7 health visitors in team leader, specialist or named nurse roles typically earn £36–£46 per hour depending on the complexity of the service and location.
For permanent salaried roles, Band 6 runs from £38,682 to £46,580 (2025/26) and Band 7 from £47,810 to £54,710.
Our consultants can advise on current going rates for your experience and region.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What is the SCPHN qualification and do all health visitors need it? Yes – the Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) qualification is the statutory post-registration qualification required to practise as a health visitor in the UK. It is a degree-level programme, typically one year full-time, undertaken after initial nurse or midwife registration. Without the SCPHN, a nurse cannot work autonomously as a health visitor. We verify SCPHN status as part of our compliance process.
- Is a driving licence required for health visiting? For the majority of health visitor roles, yes. Health visitors conduct home visits as a core part of their caseload work and most services require a full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle. We confirm the travel requirements for each role upfront.
- Do you place health visitors for short-term cover? Yes. Once a health visitor is registered and compliant with us, we can respond quickly to urgent requirements. Health visiting is one of the areas where services most frequently need urgent locum cover, and we maintain an active pool of compliant practitioners.
- Do health visitor locum roles involve safeguarding responsibilities? Yes – safeguarding is an integral part of health visiting practice. Health visitors may carry child protection cases, attend case conferences and core groups, and have specific safeguarding duties under the Healthy Child Programme. We confirm Level 3 safeguarding children training as a minimum for all health visiting placements.
- What areas do you cover? We place health visitors across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Glasgow, Cardiff, Edinburgh and beyond.
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