Call for a focus on nutrition of county’s young

Pleacomesamidchangestopublichealth

A COUNCIL has been urged to focus on helping improve children’s nutrition as it approved sweeping changes to public health services for youngsters, including reducing health visitor meetings and reducing school nursing.

The calls came as North Yorkshire County Council’s executive approved launching a 10week public consultation over its proposed Healthy Child Programme.

The meeting heard the programme would see resources concentrated on pre- school children and help for school- age children in need of support.

Dr Lincoln Sargent, the authority’s director of public health, said the programme changes were part of measures following a £ 4m cut in public health funding from the Government.

He said: “In an ideal world with adequate funding we would not have to make radical changes to our services.

“It is important that we see this as not just targeting one service, but part of an approach of trying to deliver high- quality services across all of the responsibilities that we have to our public.”

The meeting also heard that numerous councillors welcomed the plan to target efforts on the very young.

However, Coun Paul Haslam warned that the council’s public

health cuts, which will include the loss of a scheme to tackle childhood obesity, could lead to false economies, by creating more people with diabetes or behavioural issues.

Dr Sargent replied that the council would continue to build on efforts it had already made to tackle childhood obesity.

However, the authority’s deputy leader, Coun Gareth Dadd said one focus of the council’s efforts should be getting parents to understand how to avoid junk food.

He said: “It was a great loss when they weren’t taught how to cook at school or that skill set wasn’t passed down from generation to generation.

“That’s perhaps one of the biggest hurdles that we’ve got to overcome.”

He said: “If we can get parents to follow that healthy choice then perhaps we are on to a winner.”

Dr Sargent outlined how the proposed changes would see some of the five early years health visitor meetings become virtual ones, rather than in person, which unions have said would mean some serious issues may not be identified.

He told the meeting: “It is important that the public recognises that the change is qualitative not quantitative.

“We have learned quite a lot during the period of Covid and lockdown that the advances in approaches and digital technology is very helpful, particularly in a rural county.

“Even if we weren’t facing budget reductions that there are some of these proposals that are absolutely timely and push the way that we deliver services in an innovative way.”

In an ideal world we would not have to make radical changes. DrLincolnSargent, NorthYorkshire CountyCouncil’sdirectorofpublichealth.