Over-stretched health visitors today warn that children will die unless cuts to their service are reversed.
Nearly a third of health visitors have case loads topping 500, a survey reveals – twice the recommended safe level set by the Institute of Health Visiting.
And 42 per cent said they fear they will soon have a “tragedy” on their hands due to an at-risk child slipping through the net.
IHV chief Dr Cheryll Adams, said: “Unless cuts are stopped now, we’ll see a further reduction in health visitors and more negative outcomes for children.”
Since October 2015, the number of health visitors in England has been cut by a quarter – from 10,309 to 7,852.
And the number of training places has dropped from 2,787 in 2013/14 to 448 last year.
Mum found dead on hospital floor laid to rest with four-day-old baby in her arms
The trained nurses visit new parents at home to offer support and to pick up on signs of abuse.
But they are no longer able to carry out the mandatory five checks – before birth, at birth, eight weeks after birth, after the first year of life and when the child is two-and-a-half.
Many checks are delegated to non-qualified staff and some are not carried out at all. Only 88 per cent of families received their mandatory one-year visit – and of these only 35 per cent saw a qualified health visitor.
Dr Adams said the drop in health visitor numbers had coincided with increasing need, as more families plunge into poverty due to Tory austerity.
Princess Eugenie fans are all making the same comment on photos of the royal
Nearly 70 per cent of health visitors reported an increase in use of foodbanks in the last two years. There is also a postcode lottery of good and bad service.
Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Tory cuts to health visitors are yet another betrayal of children.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Under the Long Term Plan for the NHS we will consider whether there is a stronger role for the NHS in commissioning health visitors.”
