Tags: COVID-19

iHV provides evidence at the COVID-19 Inquiry

iHV CEO, Alison Morton, provided evidence on the impact of the pandemic on children, young people and their health services at today’s COVID-19 Inquiry Module 8 Public Hearings.

Alison Morton, iHV CEO, providing evidence on the impact of the pandemic on children, young people and their health services at the COVID-19 Inquiry Module 8 Public Hearings

The UK COVID-19 Inquiry has been set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future.

Module 8 is examining the impact of the pandemic on children and young people in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It will consider the impact of the pandemic on children across society including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and from a diverse range of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

Alison, on behalf of the Institute of Health Visiting, was invited to be a core-participant in the Inquiry Module 8 – having previously also submitted evidence to Module 3 – Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on healthcare systems in the 4 nations of the UK (read our news story here).

Alison joined today’s other speakers: Duncan Burton (on behalf of NHS England); Prof. Steve Turner (on behalf of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health); Claire Dorer OBE (on behalf of the National Association of Special Schools); and John Barneby (on behalf of Oasis Community Learning).

Alison’s evidence

In her written submission and oral evidence today, Alison described how the needs of our nation’s babies and children were not given the attention they deserved in the emergency plans – and babies were ignored and largely forgotten. Other areas of healthcare were prioritised and the response failed to adequately consider the breadth of the pandemic’s wider harms.

As a direct consequence, too many children were harmed – yet, these harms were entirely foreseeable and predictable, and impacted child health, development and safety.

The pandemic was a highly stressful time for both families and services, with plans operationalised under huge pressure, lack of staff and multiple competing priorities. Staff came to work to do a good job – but this was very challenging. Like any emergency, lots of decisions were made; some were good, some were wrong from the start, and some were found to be flawed and caused unnecessary harm. And it took too long to reverse bad decisions.

One of the biggest failings for health visiting was the decision to “stop” the service and redeploy health visitors, under the misguided impression that they were needed most to care for acutely ill patients. In reality, health visitors were needed most on their own ‘frontline’, supporting babies, children and families during this stressful time. During the pandemic, health visitors were incredibly resourceful and supported millions of families – but as a result of these decisions, many missed out.

The second notable failing was the decision that contacts should be ‘virtual by default’. This was driven by insufficient PPE, a lack of understanding of the role of health visitors, and the importance of babies, young children and families being seen in person.

Thirdly, when it was clear that large numbers of families were struggling and demand for health visiting support soared, services should have been strengthened. Instead, health visiting experienced further cuts in real terms.

Commenting on the Inquiry, Alison said:

“It is clear that babies, children and families were failed in this pandemic. Their needs were not prioritised. Too many were not given care, support and protection when they needed it most. To put this right, children need more than an apology – because there is a burning platform for us to do better. And there are two urgent priorities:
– Firstly, for the children in this generation, now! who have been harmed, or have needs that aren’t being met. We need a national “Babies, Children and Young People Covid-19 Recovery and Rebuild Plan”. This cannot be ignored any longer – inequalities are not inevitable. And we know enough about what works to make a difference now.
– Secondly, for the babies, children and young people in the future – for the next emergency. We need to be better prepared to cope next time – as things stand now, we look to be worse off.

“It’s clear that the failures were due to systemic failures, in the way that children’s needs – and child health services – are resourced and prioritised in the heart of government. We need to create a better future. And this will take investment and a plan to tackle the root causes of poor health and rebuild child health services. This cannot be put at the bottom of the pile again.”

Recommendations

In her statement, Alison provided a full list of recommendations and set out her ‘top three’:

  1. A cross-government strategy is needed to prioritise the earliest years of life and reduce inequalities. This must include actions to tackle the wider determinants of health and a commitment to world class child health services.
  2. Ensure that the holistic needs of babies, children and young people are explicitly addressed in future emergency plans. And this must include the pandemic’s wider impacts.
  3. Specifically for health visiting:
  • Health visitors are most needed as Specialist Community Public Health Nurses working with families during emergencies. The health visiting service must be categorised to continue and not stop during these worrying times.
  • There is an urgency to rebuild health visiting services in England where services have been decimated, following years of cuts. We urgently need more health visitors because health visitors are a vital child health workforce, providing a frontline service that reaches all families and works with others to ensure they get the support they need to thrive.

And this is needed to help create the healthiest generation of children ever.

Recordings

Watch a clip of Alison at the COVID-19 Inquiry Module 8 Public Hearings:

Watch the full Module 8, 8 October PM session, with Alison Morton - Alison starts at 34:56

Read the full transcript here

Read Alison Morton's written evidence for Module 8 of The Covid-19 Inquiry here (publicly available 8 October 2025)

Alison’s submission for Module 8 builds on her submission for Module 3, with the inclusion of additional evidence and iHV position statements on key issues affecting babies and young children.

See all recordings from the COVID-19 Inquiry proceedings – https://www.youtube.com/@UKCovid-19Inquiry

Covid-19 Inquiry Module 3, witness statement on health visiting published

In June 2023, our CEO, Alison Morton received a formal request for evidence for Module 3 of The Covid Inquiry from The Rt. Hon Baroness Hallett DBE PC (Chair of the Inquiry). All witness statements for Module 3 are now publicly available.

Alison’s witness statement presents evidence of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on health systems across the UK, between: 1 March 2020 and 28 June 2022. In particular, it provides a historical record of policy decisions and the healthcare systems’ response related to health visiting in England. The scope of the evidence includes people’s experience of health visiting, and workforce implications (including redeployment, access to PPE, the use of technology, and the impact of the pandemic on health visiting practitioners, including those in training).

Background

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is the independent public inquiry set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future. The Inquiry is Chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett, a former Court of Appeal judge, who has the power to compel the production of documents and call witnesses to give evidence on oath. The UK Covid-19 Inquiry covers the handling of the pandemic in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (a separate additional Inquiry is taking place in Scotland).

The Inquiry is split into 10 modules, which have different subject topics. Module 3 of the Inquiry opened on 8 November 2022, with a statement from Baroness Hallett:

“The pandemic had an unprecedented impact on health systems across the UK. The Inquiry will investigate and analyse the healthcare decisions made during the pandemic, the reasons for them and their impact, so that lessons can be learned and recommendations made for the future…”

Alison was asked to provide evidence on health visiting, in relation to the following key topics:

  • Topic 1: The impact of government decision-making on health visiting during the pandemic
  • Topic 2: The use of technology to conduct appointments and meetings
  • Topic 3: The impact of Covid-19 on people’s experience of healthcare and quality of care – the impact on those requiring care for reasons other than Covid-19
  • Topic 4: Staffing capacity including the redeployment of health visiting practitioners from one area to another
  • Topic 5: Infection prevention and control. The availability of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for those working in the health visiting during the pandemic. The effect of national guidance on infection control within healthcare settings
  • Topic 6: The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Institute of Health Visiting and its members/ practitioners working in health visiting teams, including those in training.

Timeline

The initial period for gathering evidence was relatively short, with the call for evidence received on 20 June 2023 and the first submission due by 15 August 2023. This was then followed by two further rounds of clarification questions from the Module’s legal team and the management of redactions of personal information (unless it related to senior officials), with the final submission completed in February 2024. This evidence will form part of the Inquiry, alongside the evidence gathered through the public hearings for Module 3 which were held between 9 September 2024 and 28 November 2024 (available to access here). The evidence is all currently being reviewed and the recommendations will then be formulated, with a clear monitoring process in place to ensure that they are acted upon.

Commenting on being part of the Covid-19 Inquiry, Alison Morton said:

“When I first received the formal request to provide evidence on health visiting from Baroness Hallett, I felt an enormous weight of personal responsibility for our profession, recognising the importance of telling our story. And a mantle to do justice to the experiences of all my health visiting colleagues across the country, as well as the babies, children and families that we all seek to serve. My witness statement provides an account of the decisions that were made, based on the information that was available at the time. My overriding goal is that it provides a foundation for learning and adds to the weight of evidence to drive lasting change for the better!

“My statement comes with a ‘health warning’ – it is lengthy – and reading it back today, I had vivid flashbacks to March 2020. A time when the world shut down – but babies kept on being born, and the struggles of family life were magnified for so many. A lot happened in the next 30 months. There were so many brilliant examples of the tenacity of the human spirit to care for others, as well as harrowing accounts of the multiple harms experienced by so many people.

“At the iHV, we were involved with national policymakers, frontline practitioners, service leads, researchers, and families with babies and young children. The evidence brings together pieces of the jigsaw from that time, when a pandemic exposed vulnerabilities and weaknesses in healthcare systems, as well as fantastic examples of professionalism and rapid innovations. Health visiting practitioners up and down the country will also have their own stories to tell of this challenging time.

“Since I first submitted the evidence in August 2023, more research and evidence on the wider impacts of the pandemic on babies, children and families has been published – there are also still many unanswered questions. And more learning will no doubt come to light in the years to come. With a growing weight of evidence on the importance of the earliest years of life, and soaring levels of need, we need to learn from the past and now get on with the serious business of building a better future.”

Read Alison Morton’s written evidence for Module 3 of The Covid-19 Inquiry here

Read iHV's latest State of Health Visiting Report to see evidence of the soaring levels of need

Casting Long Shadows Report

The ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on babies, their families and the services that support them.

A brand-new report by the First 1001 Days Movement and the Institute of Health Visiting has been published today – ‘Casting Long Shadows: The ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on babies, their families and the services that support them.’

The report reveals worrying new statistics about babies and young children born or growing up through the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting how more young children are at risk of harm, have delayed social skills, and have been affected by poor parental mental health.

The report findings were synthesised from evidence in recently published reports, research and national data, as well as analysis from a national survey of 555 professionals and volunteers who work with babies and their families in health visiting, mental health, maternity, early education, and other services.

The findings are compelling and are consistent with a whole raft of studies from multiple sources across the children’s sector, which all indicate that the wide-reaching impacts of the pandemic are far from over for our youngest members of society:

  • An alarming 94.8% of professionals say the pandemic has an ongoing negative or very negative impact on the personal and social skills of children who were living in the pandemic. 92.4% of professionals say the same for communication, speech, and language skills and for emotional wellbeing and development.
  • Almost half (42.7%) of respondents surveyed stated that “many” babies they work with are affected by parental anxiety, stress, or depression due to the pandemic, which is affecting bonding and responsive care.
  • More than 4 in 10 (44.1%) of respondents said that “many” of the babies they work with are currently affected by increased exposure to domestic conflict, child abuse and neglect.
  • 4 in 10 (40.4%) survey respondents reported “many” babies they worked with had been affected by the loss of family income or increased risk of food poverty.

The report also highlights how:

  • Services have not returned to normal, and this could impact future generations – Whilst there has been innovation in service provision, nearly 6 in 10 respondents (59.5%) who reported that their service was operating differently, told us that the changes were not beneficial for families.
  • Services are in ‘crisis’ – The pandemic exacerbated existing strains on services. A significant number of survey respondents raised issues relating to low staffing numbers and poor staff wellbeing, with some professionals talking about services being in “crisis”.
  • The majority of respondents (90.5% in England) did not feel that national or local governments had taken sufficient action to ensure that babies under two and their families receive the support they need to recover from the impact of the pandemic.

With so much compelling evidence, The First 1001 Days Movement and Institute of Health Visiting are calling for:

  1. National Government to take concerted action to address the impacts of the pandemic on our youngest children.
  2. Integrated local strategies are needed to ensure that all children have the best start in life.
  3. National Governments must have long-term child health and development strategies, supported by workforce plans.
  4. Clear leadership within the UK Government is needed to ensure policy decisions include a cross-government focus on the needs of babies and young children. To ensure that this does not fall in the gaps between departments, a cabinet member should be appointed to drive this forward and act now to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on our youngest citizens.

Alison Morton, iHV Executive Director, said:

“This report helpfully pulls together the unequivocal evidence that the pandemic’s impacts on our babies and young children have been significant and demand much greater attention from policy makers. What happens during these critical earliest years of life really does matter as they lay the foundations for future health and wellbeing. Yet, the report paints a bleak picture for babies in the UK. Too many are missing out on vital early support that can make such a difference. Ignoring this growing problem of unmet need and avoidable harms is short-sighted and will prove more costly in the long run.”

Georgina Mayes, Policy and Quality Lead at the Institute of Health Visiting, said:

“This new report clearly shows that the pandemic is having a lasting impact on many children’s health, wellbeing and development, and on the ability of services to meet their needs. More children are falling behind, inequalities are widening, and some services are reaching a crisis point. Whilst many professionals are working hard to support the families that they work with, this report clearly shows that demand is outstripping the workforce’s capacity to meet the scale of need.

“We call on national and local governments across the UK to take the findings of this research seriously and act now to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on our youngest children’s lives and life chances.”

Read the full report here

 

 

 

Health visiting study seeks to learn lessons from pandemic

A new £265,000 study led by the University of Stirling is seeking to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected health visiting services across the UK, with a view to improving them in the future.

The 18-month project – funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) – will explore the changes that health visiting has experienced over the past two years and provide recommendations to enhance organisation and delivery as part of a strong post-pandemic recovery.

The project is led by Dr Erica Gadsby, a Senior Lecturer in Public Health from Stirling’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, and also involves researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Kent.

Alison Morton, Executive Director of the Institute of Health Visiting, said:

“Congratulations to the team, led by the University of Stirling, which has been awarded this prestigious NIHR funding.

“The last two years have been a period of tumultuous change, with health visiting services facing significant challenges in their efforts to support babies, young children and families. Health visitors responded rapidly with service innovations, but many of these adaptations have not been tested in the health visiting context and their impacts are largely unknown.

“This much-needed realist review will help us to gain a greater understanding of the pandemic response in order to learn lessons that can be applied to future emergencies, as well as strengthening the evidence base to support the embedding of new innovations and ways of working.”

The pandemic caused enormous pressure and disruption to child health services, as well as to families and young children, but it also prompted some important innovations in service delivery. The new study will explore how the pandemic affected health visiting services in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, with a view to understanding how the organisation and delivery of services can be improved for a stronger post-pandemic recovery.

The researchers will undertake a ‘realist review’, which is a type of theory-driven review of evidence. They will pull together different forms of information related to what has happened in health visiting services since March 2020 and use that to explore how the pandemic has affected services, service providers and families.

The team includes realist review, health visiting and public health experts, as well as a patient and public involvement lead. A stakeholder group – comprising practitioners, commissioners, policymakers, policy advocates, and members of the public – will advise and provide feedback throughout the project.

The team will work closely with the Institute of Health Visiting and the stakeholder group to ensure the findings of the study are developed into a range of outputs suitable for the various stakeholders and disseminated to the appropriate audience.

Dr Gadsby is supported on the project, Realist Review: Health Visiting in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic Experience (RReHOPE), by Professor Kendall; Dr Geoff Wong and Ms Claire Duddy (both of the University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences); and Mrs Madeline Bell (expert by experience).

Government responds to Petitions Committee’s report on impact of COVID-19 on new parents

Yesterday, the House of Commons Petitions Committee published the Government’s response to the Committee’s first report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new parents. The response is available here.

The Committee’s report focused on the additional pressures that COVID-19 and the pandemic response have brought for new and expectant parents, and called for: strengthened perinatal mental health services; increased in-person visits by health visitors to new parents; a review of monitoring and enforcement activity relating to employers’ health and safety obligations to new parents; legislation on extended redundancy protections for new and expectant mothers; and a review into the funding and affordability of childcare

The Government’s response states:

“We understand that the pandemic and the pandemic response have involved a significant amount of upheaval for new parents, including through changes or delays to services, and national lockdowns presenting barriers to support and care from friends and relatives. The first 1,001 days from conception to the age of two are critical: they set the foundations for an individual’s cognitive, emotional and physical development through the early years and growing up well. We continue to support giving every child the best start in life, including through building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2021, an additional £500 million was announced through the Budget for Start for Life and family help services [this includes £200m for the Supporting Families Programme for children of all ages]. This represents an important step in implementing the vision set out in The Best Start for Life: a Vision for the 1,001 critical days, published by the Early Years Healthy Development Review led by Dame Andrea Leadsom.”

At the iHV, we support the Petitions Committee’s conclusion that, whilst this investment is an important first step and a welcome commitment to the ‘First 1,001 Days’, this does not go far enough. The Committee’s response states:

“We welcome the long-term vision of the Government’s Best Start for Life review, but to date COVID-19 recovery funding aimed at children aged under 2 appears to have been unjustifiably neglected compared to the funding made available for older children. As we emerge from the pandemic, the Government must ensure it invests proportionately in the infrastructure which supports these families.”

The iHV is working closely with the Parent-Infant Foundation and many other leading organisations who are calling on the Government for a fully funded COVID-19 recovery plan for babies, young children and families.

Alison Morton, iHV Executive Director commented:

“There is no denying that the impact of the pandemic on babies, young children and families has been wide ranging, and disproportionately affects those who were already disadvantaged. Whilst the Government’s recent commitment of £300m for the Start for Life Offer is a welcomed step in the right direction, it doesn’t go anywhere near far enough to address the scale of unmet need and intensity of support required.

“Left unaddressed, the burden of vulnerability and early adversity is cumulative and may last a lifetime for some children. But, in a world of seemingly intractable challenges, there is hope – meaningful prevention, early intervention and care promises better health and wellbeing across generations. Inequalities are not inevitable; they are within our gift to change if we have the will and the means to tackle them.

“We therefore join with others in calling for a clear COVID-19 recovery plan for babies, young children and families at the scale of intensity required, and with the investment needed, to put this right. This includes tackling the workforce ‘elephant in the room’. The current workforce shortages in health visiting have been ignored for far too long, and their impact is being felt across the health and social care system and by parents who face the brunt of short-sighted policy making. We need more health visitors, and we need to start rebuilding this vital infrastructure of support for families now.”

We are grateful to the support of more than 700 leading children’s organisations who have supported our call for investment in health visiting. The Parent-Infant Foundation has highlighted three areas where they feel that the Government’s response is insufficient:

  • The Government is diminishing the impact of the pandemic on our babies
  • Disparities in recovery funding are inconsistent with Government’s own acknowledgement of the importance of the first 1001 days
  • More must be done to strengthen our health visiting services.
Read the Parent-Infant Foundation's analysis of the Government's response here

Read the Petitions Committee's news story on the publication of the Government's response

 

 

 

Health visiting in England: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

 

Last week, we were delighted that the international ‘Public Health Nursing’ journal published a paper written by Alison Morton, the iHV’s Executive Director, and Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Former Executive Director, on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 on families with children under 5 years in England, and the health visiting (HV) service that supports them.

The paper (Health visiting in England: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic) presents a targeted review of the evidence, with data drawn from national surveys of health visitors and parents, a freedom of information request of employers, published research, and national data. Framework analysis and triangulation, using the Key Elements of an effective health visiting service, were used to categorise the key findings.

The findings from the review indicate that the impacts of the pandemic were wide-ranging and disproportionately affected the most disadvantaged families, increasing demand for health visiting support. The pandemic exacerbated factors that can lead to poorer outcomes for families. Health visitors’ ability to respond was compromised due to national policy decisions to partially stop the service and variations in local implementation including the redeployment of health visitors, pre-existing workforce capacity issues, and the effectiveness of innovations to identify and support vulnerable families.

Key learning from the pandemic response, including the need to prioritise the health visiting service, must be acted upon to reduce ongoing impacts now and ensure that the service is equipped for future emergencies.

Alison Morton commented:

“History has a habit of ‘airbrushing’ the past and it is therefore important that the events of the earliest months of the pandemic are recorded, and the learning is captured to support future responses to similar emergency situations. It was an honour to be able to complete this review in partnership with my predecessor, Dr Cheryll Adams. We are both delighted to see it published in the prestigious international journal, ‘Public Health Nursing’ which is the official journal of the Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations worldwide.

“Babies, young children and families have largely been forgotten in the pandemic response and we hope that this paper, alongside numerous others presenting similar messages, will provide the impetus for much-needed change and investment in the health visiting service in England”

The paper has been published online by Wiley – Public Health Nursing journal as an open access paper – you can read the paper in full here:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/phn.13053

PIMS-TS: the COVID-19 linked syndrome affecting children – information for Health Visitors

Most children and teenagers do not become seriously ill with COVID-19, but doctors have seen a very small number of patients with an unusual condition which seems to be linked to the virus. Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) is very rare; it occurs in less than 0.05% of children with COVID-19. Most children with the condition will not be seriously affected but, in some cases, it can be serious.

This news story has been written in collaboration with Dr Sanjay Patel (paediatric infectious disease and immunology consultant – Southampton Children’s Hospital) to raise awareness of this condition and provide some helpful links to trusted sources of information to support you in your work with families.

Signs and Symptoms of PIMS-TS:

  • fever, which persists over several days
  • there’s a very wide range of other symptoms that children might have, including abdominal pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, rash, cold hands/feet and red eyes. These symptoms can be found in other illnesses too.

Children and young people who are seriously affected will have symptoms which are very similar to other life-threatening conditions such as sepsis or meningitis. Some of the symptoms of PIMS-TS can overlap with other rare conditions, such as Kawasaki disease and Toxic Shock Syndrome. Kawasaki disease tends to affect children under five, whereas PIMS seems to affect older children and teenagers.

While most children won’t be seriously unwell, some children may be severely affected by the syndrome. Experts advise, the most important thing is to remember that any child who is seriously unwell needs to be treated quickly – whatever the illness.

Laura is mother to Oliver, and she is raising awareness of PIMS and the symptoms to look out for:

“Oliver tested positive for Covid with no symptoms in March. Four weeks later, he lost his appetite, became lethargic and developed tummy pains. I took him to A&E, where he was diagnosed with tonsillitis and sent home. Over the next few days, Oliver developed a persistently high temperature, a blotchy rash, swelling, deep red lips, palms and eyelids and bloodshot eyes and was admitted to hospital. Oliver’s blood pressure kept dropping and his heart function was deteriorating so he was transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit. Oliver was then diagnosed with PIMS-TS. Thankfully, Oliver has made a good recovery after 5 days in ICU and 2 weeks in hospital, we were able to return home. There appears to be no long-term heart damage, although he still needs regular heart check-ups”.

(Shared with permission from Laura)

Children from all ethnic minority backgrounds have been affected by PIMS. A greater proportion of children from Black and Asian backgrounds appear to be affected by PIMS-TS, although it is still not clear what the reason for this is. Nonetheless, it is important for families from all ethnic backgrounds to be aware of the signs and symptoms of the condition, however rare.

Dr Sanjay Patel said:

 “The good news is that effective treatments are readily available for treating PIMS-TS and the vast majority of children make an excellent recovery.”

iHV welcomes Petitions Committee Report – Impact of COVID-19 on new parents: one year on

The iHV welcomes today’s Petitions Committee Report which calls on the Government to publish a dedicated COVID-19 recovery strategy for new parents. 12 months on from the Petitions Committee Report last year, it is clear that the pandemic continues to impact on new and expectant parents.

The Petitions Committee Report – Impact of COVID-19 on new parents: one year on calls for:

  • extra funding and resources to allow catch-up mental health support for new parents and to boost perinatal mental health services
  • funding for local authorities to arrange in-person visits to new parents by councils, voluntary organisations or health visiting staff by the end of the year
  • a review of monitoring and enforcement activity relating to employers’ health and safety obligations to pregnant women
  • legislation on the planned extension of redundancy protections for new and expectant mothers
  • a review into the funding, affordability and provision of childcare, and the sustainability of the childcare sector

Alison Morton, iHV Executive Director, said:

“We thank the Petitions Committee for their ongoing work championing the needs of new and expectant parents which have been largely overlooked during the pandemic. This hard-hitting report adds to the growing weight of evidence that has helped raise this important issue. It recognises the vital role that parents play in raising the next generation and the devastating and far-reaching impact that the pandemic has had on babies, young children and their families.

“We share the Committee’s disappointment that despite the government’s pledges to ‘build back better’, this has not translated into any tangible action or investment to make the changes that are needed to strengthen the support that families receive during these important earliest years of life.

“We support the calls for investment into the health visiting workforce which adds weight to the groundswell of support that the profession has received from a multitude of partners in the current #TurnOffTheTaps campaign. We join with them in calling on the Government to invest in giving children the best start in life.

“It is difficult to understand what more evidence policy makers need to take this matter seriously. We are currently wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money every year on ‘getting it wrong’ with spiralling costs of late intervention. Babies, young children and families need action now – this cannot wait any longer.”

Read Petitions Committtee news story

iHV welcomes new F1001D report – Working for Babies: Lockdown lessons from local systems

iHV welcomes a new report published today by the First 1001 Days Movement (F10001D) which provides insight into the impacts of COVID-19 and the Spring 2020 lockdown on babies.

The report, Working for Babies: Lockdown lessons from local systems, presents hard-hitting findings about the direct and indirect harm to babies, young children and their families caused by the pandemic. These “hidden harms” were broad and significant, and experienced unevenly depending on family circumstances and background.  Historically inadequate or insecure funding, and a rising tide of need, has inhibited the ability of some services and local systems to respond to the needs of babies and their families during the pandemic. There were often ‘baby blind-spots’ where babies’ needs were overlooked in policy, planning and funding.

However, the report also provides some “good news stories” of organisations and systems which reacted and adapted positively to the pandemic. The report introduces the concept of “baby-positive” local responses and provides the beginnings of a formula for what good local systems should look like. In particular, it sets out the positive difference that was made by professionals who were connected to each other, and to their communities, and were empowered to meet families’ needs.

Most importantly, the report seeks to ensure that lessons are learned for the future of service provision for this age group. It provides further evidence of the importance of many things that the iHV campaigns for, such as clear leadership, a focus on babies’ needs, and a joined-up response.

Alison Morton, Acting Executive Director of the iHV said:

“This report adds further weight to the growing body of evidence on the direct and indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on families with babies and young children. The message is clear, despite the indisputable evidence that the first 1001 days are the most crucial period of human development, babies and young children have largely been forgotten in the national pandemic response. Now we know better, we must do better.

“We hope the report brings a much-needed tipping point for change. It provides a powerful impetus to the Government to focus their efforts on the things that matter most by investing in our youngest citizens, to put things right and achieve their ambition to ‘build back better’.”

Working for Babies: Lockdown lessons from local systems

Download F1001D report - Working for Babies: Lockdown lessons from local systems

The report will be officially launched today at the APPG on Conception to Age Two meeting. For those not able to secure a space on at the APPG meeting itself, F1001D will be live streaming it at 3pm this afternoon via the Parent Infant Foundation YouTube channel. It will also be available to watch back later.

Please get involved by talking about the report on your social media channels! Get involved with the conversation and the report by using the hashtags #WorkingForBabies  #BabyBlindSpots on social media.

 

 

Call for volunteers

As the country continues to face the most serious public health challenge in living memory, the Government faces a huge task to vaccinate millions of people as quickly as possible. To help ensure that the NHS is able to deliver a large-scale vaccination programme without significantly impacting on other vital services (including health visiting), they are recruiting now to thousands of roles, including vaccinators, while also working with partners to build a bank of volunteers from all walks of life who can support vaccine services.

It is encouraging to hear the positive response to this call in the recent NHS update:

“The response of current NHS staff and those who have come forward to help out – whether the tens of thousands of former staff and students, or the hundreds of thousands of volunteers – has been nothing short of inspirational”

NHS England and NHS Improvement.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer vaccinator, please see https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/join-the-nhs-covid-19-vaccine-team/ for further information.

Details of the Health Education England e-learning modules that you will need to complete are available below.

Following the significant learning from the response to the first wave of COVID-19 on the importance of supporting babies, young children and their families, particularly the most vulnerable families, the Government’s position on the redeployment of health visitors from their substantive posts remains unchanged from that set out in the joint statement in October:

“Therefore, we 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.”

Public Health England, NHS England and Improvement, Local Government Association

HEE e-LfH COVID-19 Vaccination e-learning

Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare has worked in partnership with Public Health England and NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop the COVID-19 Vaccination e-learning programme.  The e-learning programme is designed to provide the health and care workforce involved in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme with the knowledge they need to confidently promote high uptake of the vaccine and deliver the vaccine programme effectively.

Go to HEE e-LfH COVID-19 Vaccination e-learning