The Princess of Wales meets health visitors to see how Centre for Early Childhood-backed training is helping identify babies who may need extra support

The Princess of Wales visited The Chase Community Hospital in Bordon, Hampshire, to see first-hand how a project funded by The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood is being expanded to help identify more babies and their families who may need extra support.

The Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) is an evidence-based observational tool that helps healthcare and childcare professionals identify early social and relational withdrawal in infants.

ADBB training helps health visitors to focus on babies’ eye contact, facial expressions, vocalisation and activity levels during routine checks. It helps practitioners to interpret babies’ social behaviour, discuss their cues with parents and carers, and identify signs of social withdrawal that may warrant further assessment or support.

The Princess first observed ADBB in practice during a visit to Denmark with The Centre for Early Childhood in February 2022 and subsequently asked the Centre to explore how it could be implemented in the UK. Since then, the Centre has worked with the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) to bring the benefits of the approach to families across the UK.

During the visit, The Princess met health visitors from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust who have been using ADBB, as well as families who have benefited from additional support following an ADBB assessment.

The Chase Community Hospital is home to one of three health visiting teams from the Trust that were trained as part of the pilot phase of the project. Since then, the Trust has trained more specialist health visitors and other staff who are part of its Growing Little Minds Specialist Health Visiting Team in ADBB and has committed to rolling out the training to its remaining 12 health visiting teams across the county.

The Princess also joined discussions with healthcare professionals and NHS representatives including from North Tyneside Children’s Public Health Service and South Lanarkshire Social Care Partnership, who are interested in implementing the approach within their own services.

The Princess was joined throughout the visit by Christian Guy, Executive Director of The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood; Alison Morton OBE, Chief Executive of the Institute for Health Visiting; and Professor Jamie Waterall OBE, Deputy Chief Public Health Nurse for England.

Alison Morton OBE, Chief Executive of the Institute for Health Visiting said: “It was wonderful to welcome The Princess of Wales to Hampshire today and share how health visitors are using the ADBB tool to strengthen their assessment of infant social and emotional wellbeing.

“Her Royal Highness’s knowledge, passion and commitment to improving outcomes in the early years continue to shine a spotlight on the vital support that health visitors provide for babies and families.

“The Institute of Health Visiting was proud to support the pilot and evaluation of ADBB, which showed it can be effectively incorporated into routine contacts with families. There has been strong national interest in learning from Hampshire’s experience, and we look forward to supporting the wider rollout of ADBB. By enabling earlier identification and intervention, it can make a real difference for babies and families.”

Supporting babies’ social and emotional development is foundational to the Centre’s work, reflecting evidence of the importance of the earliest years of life in shaping future health, wellbeing, and relationships. The ADBB programme forms part of the Centre’s wider efforts to strengthen the early years workforce and support parents and carers in nurturing babies’ and young children’s social and emotional development.

Christian Guy, Executive Director of The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood said:

“By giving health visitors the tools and confidence to recognise when a baby may need extra support, we can help parents and carers better understand their baby’s cues and nurture those vital early relationships which we know can have such a positive impact on life-long wellbeing.

We are proud to support the next stage of this work with the Institute of Health Visiting, to reach more families across the UK, helping parent infant connection during the foundational years of life.”

Following two successful pilot phases across ten NHS sites, the Centre announced earlier this year a further investment of £250,000 over three years to support wider adoption of the approach. The funding will enable the iHV to develop commissioning guidance and training resources, while establishing a three-year Community of Practice offering ongoing learning, supervision, and peer support for professionals implementing ADBB. The investment followed positive evaluation of two Centre-funded study phases, including an initial feasibility study in two NHS trusts and a second phase across eight UK sites.