Nursery World - Coronavirus 'taking key NHS staff away from vulnerable children'

The focus on combating coronavirus is causing a ‘perfect storm’ for young children and their families as staff providing lifeline community services are being redeployed elsewhere in the NHS.

Health visitors say that workforce numbers in some parts of the UK have been cut by up to 70%

A coalition of 40 children’s charities and professional bodies, which includes TACTYC, the NSPCC, the NCB and the Institute of Health Visiting, has warned that health visitor numbers are down in some areas by 70 per cent since the Covid-19 outbreak.

‘Decision makers must balance action to tackle COVID-19 with action to reduce its immediate and long-term negative impact on parents and the next generation,’ a policy paper from the coalition, which forms part of the First 1001 Days Movement, said today.

‘We are very concerned that vital services that would normally help to support parents and safeguard babies, such as the already depleted health visiting service, are suffering from huge staff shortages not only due to staff being ill or in isolation, but because in some areas large numbers of staff – at least 50 per cent in some areas of England – are being redeployed to provide urgent medical care and other health services.

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