This snapshot taken on 07/04/2010, shows web content selected for preservation by The National Archives. External links, forms and search boxes may not work in archived websites.
Last updated: 12 January 2009
The Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) is a joint Department of Health/Department for Children, Schools and Families project that is testing a model of intensive, nurse-led home visiting for vulnerable, first time, young parents. FNP nurses visit parents from early pregnancy until the child is two years old, building a close, supportive relationship with the whole family and guiding mothers to adopt healthier lifestyles, improve their parenting skills, and become self-sufficient. The programme is voluntary and has been taken up by 90 per cent of the families that have been offered it.
The government made a commitment to trial the Family Nurse Partnership model as part of the Social Exclusion Action Plan in September 2006. The programme was initially piloted at ten sites: Slough; Somerset; Tower Hamlets; Southwark; Southend; Derby; Barnsley; County Durham; Walsall and Manchester.
After succesful results, a further £30million was invested to extend the scheme to a further 20 sites in March 2008. The 20 new test sites chosen for the Family Nurse Partnership Programme are Sunderland, Cumbria, Liverpool, Blackpool, Leeds, Hull, Nottingham, Calderdale, Stockport, South Birmingham, Coventry, North East Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Islington, Lambeth, Hastings and Rother, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and Southampton. (The funding for the expansion of the Family Nurse Partnership from the Comprehensive Spending Review will be split as follows: £5m in 08/09; £10m in 09/10; £15m in 10/11.)
At each pilot site a supervisor leads a team of up to six Family Nurses, each with a caseload of approximately 25 families. Family Nurses receive relevant training to deliver the programme and most come from a health visiting or midwifery background. Family Nurses are linked to Sure Start Children's Centres, and encourage families to make active use of local community resources, incuding activities such as parenting groups and educational activities. On most sites the scheme is offered to mothers under the age of 20, though some sites are now offering FNP to mothers up to the age of 24.
The FNP is a licensed programme and has been developed over 30 years in the USA by Professor David Olds at the University of Colorado. The programme focuses on improved outcomes across three areas:
In the US, large scale clinical trials have shown the programme to effect significant and consistent improvements in the health and well being of the most disadvantaged children and their families in both the short and long term. Benefits include: improved school readiness; fewer subsequent pregnancies; better prenatal health; reductions of between 50 and 70 per cent in child injuries, neglect and abuse; and increases in father's involvement.
In the UK, the delivery of the FNP programme is being evaluated by Birkbeck College, London. The evaluation will focus on implementation, deliverability, take-up and costs, while looking at the short-term impact on mothers' and children's health. The evaluation is expected to report in 2009, with evidence being used to inform the future commissioning of high-intensity, health-led, early intervention and prevention programmes.