4th June 2020
Hot off the press is the updated Prioritisation of Community Health Services – “COVID-19 restoration of community health services for children and young people: second phase of NHS response“.
We are delighted to see greater prioritisation of the role of health visitors as an essential part of the country’s support structure for children and their parents during this public health pandemic. In particular we welcome:
- The removal of the wording around redeployment of health visitors
- The reinstatement of the health visitor 6-8 week review
- The inclusion of additional safeguards to protect vulnerable children – “Face-to-face contacts should be prioritised for families who are not known to services to mitigate known limitations of virtual contacts and support effective assessment of needs/ risks”
- Prioritisation of home visits where there is a child safeguarding concern.
- Reinforcement of messages that “routine and selective immunisation programmes should be maintained. This includes the seasonal flu programme”.
This document supersedes the prioritisation guidance for community health services first published on 20 March and subsequently updated on 2 April.
