This new COVID-19 historical section contains policy guidance and information that has been withdrawn or updated over the course of the pandemic.
Due to their historical relevance influencing decision making during the pandemic and its impact on families and the health visiting services you provided, we have stored them for your reference in this new section.
General GOV.UK / NHS/ PHE /DfE Guidance
PHE Guidance
Winter Planning: Support to Children and Families – 7 October 2020
Public Health England (PHE), NHS England (NHSE)and the Local Government Association (LGA) issued a letter on 7 October 2020 to all directors of nursing confirming details for winter planning in supporting children and families.
In the letter from Professor Viv Bennett, Ruth May and Ian Hudspeth, they advise that professionals supporting children and families, such as health visitors, school nurses, designated safeguarding officers and nurses supporting children with special educational needs should not be redeployed to other services and should be supported to provide services through in pregnancy, early years (0-19) and to the most vulnerable families.
Department for Education
Department for Education (DfE) advice for parents and carers looking after children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Advice about coronavirus (COVID-19) for local authorities and their partners to help support and protect vulnerable children. At this time of national crisis, the government is seeking to ensure the protection of vulnerable children.
Guidance for health visiting practice
Winter Planning: Support to Children and Families - 7 October 2020
Public Health England (PHE), NHS England (NHSE)and the Local Government Association (LGA) issued a letter on 7 October 2020 to all directors of nursing confirming details for winter planning in supporting children and families.
In the letter from Professor Viv Bennett, Ruth May and Ian Hudspeth, they advise that professionals supporting children and families, such as health visitors, school nurses, designated safeguarding officers and nurses supporting children with special educational needs should not be redeployed to other services and should be supported to provide services through in pregnancy, early years (0-19) and to the most vulnerable families.
iHV
Reports and reviews
A rapid review of the impact of quarantine and restricted environments on children's play and the role of play in children's health
Amidst the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, there is uncertainty regarding potential lasting impacts on children’s health and educational outcomes. Play, a fundamental part of childhood, may be integral to children’s health during crises. The research team undertook a rapid review of the impact of quarantine, isolation and other restrictive environments on play and whether play mitigates adverse effects of such restrictions
iHV COVID-19 professional advice for health visiting practice
Winter Planning: Support to Children and Families - 7 October 2020
Public Health England (PHE), NHS England (NHSE)and the Local Government Association (LGA) have issued a letter to all directors of nursing confirming details for winter planning in supporting children and families.
In the letter from Professor Viv Bennett, Ruth May and Ian Hudspeth, they advise that professionals supporting children and families, such as health visitors, school nurses, designated safeguarding officers and nurses supporting children with special educational needs should not be redeployed to other services and should be supported to provide services through in pregnancy, early years (0-19) and to the most vulnerable families.
Accelerating the return to near-normal levels of non-Covid health services - 31 July 2020
On 31 July, plans for the next – third – phase of the NHS response to the COVID-19 pandemic, effective from 1 August 2020, were set out in a letter from the Chief Executive Sir Simon Stevens & Chief Operating Officer Amanda Pritchard; this includes providers of community services. The Government has agreed that the NHS EPRR incident level will move from Level 4 (national) to Level 3 (regional) with effect from 1 August. This approach matches the differential regional measures the Government is deploying and builds on the guidance set out in the COVID-19 restoration of community health services for children and young people: second phase of NHS response to “fully restore [the health visiting] service, with some prioritisation where indicated and as capacity dictates”.
The priorities for this phase are:
- Accelerating the return to near-normal levels of non-Covid health services, making full use of the capacity available in the ‘window of opportunity’ between now and winter
- Preparation for winter demand pressures, alongside continuing vigilance in the light of further probable Covid spikes locally and possibly nationally.
- Doing the above in a way that takes account of lessons learned during the first Covid peak; locks in beneficial changes; and explicitly tackles fundamental challenges including: support for our staff, and action on inequalities and prevention.
Delivering the Health Visitor Healthy Child Programme during the COVID-19 pandemic - updated 19 June 2020
Following the publication of the “COVID-19 restoration of community health services for children and young people: second phase of NHS response” we have updated the COVID-19 professional advice documents that were originally published in March. The documents have been developed in partnership with Public Health England, and have been signed off by them, to support the safe and effective delivery of health visiting practice during the restoration of the health visiting service during COVID-19.
iHV COVID-19 professional advice for health visiting practice - March 2020 versions
**Please note: The first versions of the documents (listed below) were published in March 2020 and were based on the prioritisation guidance for community health services first published on 20 March 2020 which is cited in these documents. This guidance has been superceded with the “Restoration of community health services – guidance CYP version”, published on 4 June 2020 – please see updated versions of these documents above (Version 2).
COVID-19 Prioritisation within Community Health Services (March 2020)
This letter and annex set out how providers of community services can release capacity to support the COVID-19 preparedness and response – in March 2020.
COVID-19 health visiting historical publications
The impacts of COVID-19 on Health Visiting Services in England: FOI Evidence for the First Wave (December 2020)
The universal health visiting service in England is fundamental in delivering the Healthy Child Programme and ensuring that children under five get the best possible start in life; however, it was under severe strain at the beginning of 2020, after years of cuts to funding. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the pressures faced by health visiting services, both in the ensuing redeployment of health
visiting staff to support COVID-19 efforts, and in the increased concerns around children’s and parents’ wellbeing during the lockdown period. However, the exact scale and variation in the redeployment experienced by the health visiting stuff is not precisely known, with existing evidence being based on survey data.
In this brief we present new evidence based on primary data collected through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from the providers of health visiting services in England on the state of these services before the pandemic and on the redeployment of staff (both health visitors and clinical skill mix staff not defined as health visitors) in health visiting teams between 19 March and 1 September 2020.
Build Back Fairer: The COVID-19 Marmot Review (December 2020)
As the UK emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic ‘Build Back Better’ has become the mantra. Important, but we need to Build Back Fairer. The levels of social, environmental and economic inequality in society are damaging health and wellbeing.
It was the principles of fairness and the need to do things differently that animated the concrete recommendations set out in their February 10 Years On Review, just before the pandemic hit with such devastating intensity. Inequalities in mortality from COVID-19 and rising health inequalities as a result of social and economic impacts, have made such action even more important.
Making History: health visiting during COVID-19
“Making History: health visiting during COVID-19”, a collection of case studies which presents a window into the working lives of health visitors and families navigating the ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The case studies, family stories and creative pieces capture the pace and scale of change as health visiting services adapted to working during “lockdown”.
An extra case study in video format, part of the Making History: Health visiting during COVID-19 – Once upon a time by Barbara Kombe
Babies in Lockdown: listening to parents to build back better (August 2020)
Charity collective, Best Beginnings, Home-Start UK and the Parent-Infant Foundation, publish a new report sharing families’ experiences of lockdown during pregnancy or with a baby.
The report, based on a survey of over 5000 families, highlights the chronic under resourcing of services for families, the inequalities in babies’ early experiences and its worsening forecast due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report warns that many families with lower incomes, young parents and those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, will have been hit hardest by the pandemic. The Babies in Lockdown Report shines a light on UK baby inequalities as charities call on Government to act now to avoid a “Post-COVID19 lottery”.
Best Beginnings: A proposal for a new early years guarantee to give all children in England the best start in life
The Children’s Commissioner for England has published a report looking at the provision of early years services for children across the country, alongside a warning that many nurseries are at risk of closure, hitting the life chances of some of the most vulnerable children and holding back the economic recovery following lockdown.
UCL survey on impacts of COVID-19 on Health Visiting in England (July 2020)
According to a survey from University College London (UCL), health visitors are concerned that the needs of children have been missed due to staff redeployment to support the COVID-19 workforce and increased caseloads.
The UCL survey of 663 health visitors in England, conducted between 19 June and 21 July 2020, found that 41% of respondents in teams that lost staff had between 6 and 50 team members redeployed between 19 March to 3 June 2020.
In approximately 10% of teams, which experienced a loss, this was a redeployment of at least half of their staff. Few teams (9% among those with staff redeployed) gained additional staff to fill the gaps. This meant that 253 respondents (38%) had their caseload increase, some with an increase of 50% or more, and 73% of those that experienced a change reported that their caseload had not returned to its usual size.
Alison Morton presentation to LGA webinar - Supporting the development of babies and young children during the COVID-19 outbreak (July 2020)
JHV article - Who is providing a safety net for babies and young children? (July 2020)
Alison Morton’s paper published in the July issue of Journal of Health Visiting considers the consequences for children and families, as well as the health visitors intended to support them – Who is providing a safety net for babies and young children?
Petitions Committee report: impact of COVID-19 on maternity and parental leave (July 2020)
The Petitions Committee launched its landmark report calling on the Government to extend parental leave and pay for all new parents affected by COVID-19.
More than 226,000 people have signed an e-petition calling for the Government to extend maternity leave by 3 months with pay in light of COVID-19. The committee received over 69,000 responses with people sharing their experiences and views on the Government’s response and on the actions they think need to be taken.
Evidence to Parliamentary Education Committee - The impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services - June 2020
The Early Years Commission – Call for Evidence - June 2020
iHV writes to the Prime Minister on behalf of children (May 2020)
Dr Cheryll Adams CBE wrote to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson MP, to ask him to start to strengthen the health visiting profession so that it can play its part to help all UK children to be given the opportunity to have the very best start in life. The Institute is particularly concerned by the growing rates of poverty and widening of health inequalities in the UK, both pre and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their impact on babies, all children and their parents. This has happened alongside a significant loss of health visitors and development of unwarranted variation in the service across the UK over the past five years.
Voices Blog - Is a secondary pandemic on its way? (April 2020)
A Voices blog by Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, on the concern of a secondary impact of the pandemic on children and families.
Health Visiting during COVID-19: Unpacking redeployment decisions and support for health visitors’ wellbeing (April 2020)
We asked health visitors across the UK what the big issues were for them under the COVID-19 pandemic. We used the responses very proactively with government to provide a window into health visiting practice in April 2020 and the support that the profession needs.
Health visiting during COVID-19: An iHV report (April 2020)
On 2 April 2020, the Institute of Health Visiting contacted health visitors through the iHV open Facebook page in an attempt to understand the impact that COVID-19 was having on their practice and the families on their caseloads.
Health visitors were asked to respond to two questions. Responses were received from across the UK and the data from all sources were included in this rapid qualitative analysis and identification of key themes. Based on these key themes, the Institute of Health Visiting made recommendations to support the health visiting workforce maximise their contribution and impact as part of the wider COVID-19 response.
iHV COVID-19 professional advice for health visiting practice
GPPs
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