Parents concerned as health visitors checks reduced in Lincolnshire

Parents from Lincoln have expressed their concern due to temporarily reduced health visitors services across the county.

The COVID-19 pandemic and a national staff shortage in the industry has been blamed.

Health visitors are qualified and registered nurses or midwives who can give advice to parents about their new baby. They will assess the needs of individuals and families to promote good health from pre-birth to the end of your child’s first year at school.

Lincolnshire County Council said health visitors still aim to have the recommended contact with all families with a child under five. However, it has “temporarily changed the way contact is made at 8-12 months, but only in cases where there are no existing worries or health needs”.

Face-to-face reviews currently take place at 6-8 weeks and 2.5 years, with around 8,000 children in each year group seen each year. At this time, approximately 30% of families receive a face-to-face review at 8-12 months.

Where there are no existing concerns or health issues, families are not currently contacted at that point. However, the county council expect this to be a very temporary measure.

A Lincoln couple with two children said their one-year-old daughter was last seen by a health visitor at six weeks. After not receiving a one-year visit, they chased it up and were told as it wasn’t their first born, and no issues had been flagged up, this would not be needed.

They said: “Although we don’t have particular concerns about our daughter’s development it would have been useful to be given the opportunity to talk with a health professional and for them to give reassurances we might need despite it being our second time as parents.

“It feels as though our daughter is not important to the health visiting team. We fear that some families will fall under the radar by missing this important contact which could impact on the wellbeing of both children and parents.”

The health visiting team aim to regularly see a mother and her baby before the child starts school, but face-to face visits may not always be possible during times of high demand.

• when the woman is over 25 weeks pregnant
• when the baby is 10 to 14 days
• when the baby is 6 to 8 weeks old
• when the baby is 8 to 12 months old
• when the child is 2 to 2.5 years old

Another Lincoln mum, who has a two-year-old, said: “The concern for me is that without stringent checks young children and babies with health or wellbeing risks will fall through the radar.

“If there is the slightest risk that safeguarding red flags will be missed as a result, reductions to the service are irresponsible and potentially negligent. Not only this, health visitors are important for monitoring parents’ wellbeing too.”

Linda Dennett, interim assistant director for children’s health commissioning, said: “Health visitors still aim to have the recommended contact with all families with a child under five.

“However, due to increased demand on the service as a result of the pandemic and a national health visitor shortage, we have temporarily changed the way contact is made at 8–12 months, but only in cases where there are no existing worries or health needs.

“We are actively looking to recruit new health visitors and have recently introduced additional family health workers, as we aim to resume normal service as soon as possible. If any parent has concerns or needs advice or support, they can contact the health visiting team by calling 01522 843000.”

Lincolnshire County Council have five additional health visitors due to start in September, alongside the additional family health workers. Typically, parents do not wait until the review points to make contact if they have concerns, and we have around 50-70,000 contacts with families each year overall.