Nursery World - Concerns that council plans to cut health visitors will 'cause preventable harm'

Organisations that advocate for women's health and unions are worried that proposals by two councils to reduce their health visiting teams will put children and families at risk.

Under proposals by both councils, the number of full-time health visitors would be reduced, PHOTO Adobe Stock

Both Hampshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council have put forward proposals to cut their number of health visitors in order to make savings to their budget.

Hampshire has proposed to cut 47 public health staff – health visitors, school nurses and community staff nurses - which the local authority admits within its consultation would mean the ‘health needs of pregnant women, babies, children and families may not be identified as early, and support and early intervention not provided at the optimal time’.

Under the plans, only one mandated Healthy Child Programme (HCP) review will be offered to all children from birth to age five. The remaining four reviews will be ‘risk assessed to decide whether they should be completed face-to-face, by video or telephone’.

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