Blackpool Council families will now benefit from a brand new health visiting service giving them better access to services and support during the first five years of a child’s life. The main change that parents will see is that all families will now receive eight visits from their Health Visitor, an improvement over the five visits that families receive in other areas. Under the new model, families with be allotted at least eight home visits, with the first taking place from 28 weeks of pregnancy. These visits will help the Heath Visitors to identify concerns at an earlier stage and refer to additional sources of support, making referrals to wider services more effective and improving early childhood health outcomes.