Authority to cut key children’s services

SOCIETY: A local authority is proposing radical changes to key services for 130,000 children and young people as it faces slashing its public health budget.

Residents will be consulted over North Yorkshire’s plans to cut the number of mandated home visits after the birth of children and end health checks at schools.

A LOCAL authority is proposing radical changes to key services for 130,000 children and young people as it faces slashing its public health budget by £ 4m.

Residents are to be consulted over North Yorkshire County Council’s proposals to cut the number of mandated home visits after the birth of children and end checks at school, such as hearing and vision tests, which have identified health issues for generations.

The authority’s executive will consider transforming its Healthy Child Programme, the latest in a series of public health cutbacks, at a meeting next week.

The council has run the Healthy Child Programme since public health services were moved from the NHS to local authorities in 2015, and earlier this year approved a tenyear partnership with Harrogate and District NHS Trust, but with a £ 750,000 drop in funding.

In a report to the executive, officers state the changes would enable “resources to be targeted at those most in need”.

It adds: “Both organisations recognise that there are potential risks with the proposed new model, but consider these risks can be sufficiently mitigated.”

Currently, families automatically get the government- recommended five child health and development reviews from before birth to the age of five, but under the proposals they will only get two health visits, when a child is about 10 days old and two years old.

Government guidelines state home visits at 28 weeks’ pregnancy are “particularly important for first- time parents”, at six weeks old “crucial for assessing the baby’s growth and wellbeing alongside the health of the parent” and are needed at nine months to assess of the baby’s development.

However, the council has proposed that virtual meetings could be introduced for the remaining three reviews if the family is not deemed to face significant issues.

Stuart Carlton, the council’s children service director, said: “We now have really strong learning about how to provide a safe and effective personal service via digital platforms which can be taken forward for the Healthy Child Programme.”

Nevertheless, the report to the executive states: “Clearly a virtual meeting will not provide as much information about a family’s home as a physical meeting.”

The proposals state the council and NHS trust will intensify their focus on children aged under five, based on the evidence that supporting them has a greater impact throughout life, gives them the best start in life and supports “lifelong positive outcomes”.

The proposals also include the introduction of more prevention and early intervention activities, such as infant feeding and family diet, to reduce risks of childhood obesity.

Many of the proposed cuts will be in services provided in schools, such as hearing and vision screening and sexual health services drop- ins.

The authority says safeguarding support would continue to be provided and support for emotional wellbeing will be enhanced.

The scales come down on the side of things being made worse.

David Munday, health visitor and lead professional officer at Unite.