Early Years Family Support Debate in Parliament

Yesterday there was a debate in Parliament on the First 1001 Critcal Days – the motion relating to the Inter-Ministerial Group on Early Years Family Support, opened by Andrea Leadsom MP.

We are delighted that health visiting got mentioned on a number of occasions. The work of the iHV and Cheryll got a particular mention by Tim Loughton (and a well deserved hear-hear for her tireless work to promote all the work that health visitors do- starting at 17:10:30 ) – with Tim also quoting from our statement.

Prior to the debate, iHV sent a position statement and briefing paper to several Ministers and MPs providing information and background on the services that health visitors are able to offer, and that have seriously disintegrated since 2015 and are now at tipping point – affecting the lives of generations of children.

Follow yesterday's debate on Parliament TV

iHV evidence in call for national early intervention strategy to transform lives

Following the collation of evidence for their Evidence-based early-years intervention inquiry , the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has published their report and is calling on the Government to draw up a new national strategy for early intervention approaches to address childhood adversity and trauma.

The Evidence-based early years intervention Report urges the Government to capitalise fully on the opportunity that early intervention provides to transform the lives of those who suffer adversity in childhood, while also saving long-term costs to Government.

Read iHV written evidence submission to the Early-years intervention and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) inquiry

This is a very important and hugely interesting report which includes the call for secure funding for early interventions and also cites the Institute in one of the recommendations:

Recommendation 9.

The Healthy Child Programme is the only mechanism in place through which all children in England should receive early years practitioner support before the age of five. Its coverage is therefore critical for identifying ACEs and other child development issues early. The Government should review the current provision of the
Healthy Child Programme across England and set out, as part of the new national strategy, a date for achieving complete coverage in the number of children who receive all five mandated health visits. Given existing workforce pressures, the Government must ensure that this required increase in coverage does not negatively impact the quality of health visits. It should consult the Institute of Health Visiting on how this can be managed, and be ready to recruit additional health visitors as required.
(Paragraph 54)

The Committee’s Report identifies examples of early intervention working well around the country, but also the challenges that local authorities and their partners currently face in delivering effective, evidence-based early intervention. It concludes that the overall provision of early intervention in England is fragmented, with varying levels of support, focus on evidence, and success.

The Committee calls for a new national strategy to be drawn up to ensure that the opportunity provided by early intervention—to transform lives and save long-term costs to Government—is seized fully, and by all local authorities in England.

Go to Full Evidence-based early years intervention Report

Read the report's conclusions and recommendations

Read the Committee's press release on the report's publication

Submissions wanted on the first 1000 days of life

The Health and Social Care Committee has launched an inquiry into the early years of a child’s life. The early years of a child’s life, from conception to age 2, is vital to their ongoing physical, mental and emotional health and development.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, commented:

“This inquiry into the first 1000 days of life is an opportunity for health visitors to feed in their views of what needs to change to support infants during the period from pregnancy to age two. Local evidence of good practice would be particularly helpful during these difficult times for the profession.”

Call for written submissions

The Committee would like to receive written submissions on the following questions:

1. National strategy

The top priorities for a national strategy, based on existing evidence and lessons from other countries, particularly the devolved administrations.
The current roles, responsibilities and functions across Whitehall, executive agencies and other non-departmental public bodies for the First 1000 Days, including suggestions for how these arrangements could be made more effective.

2. Current spending and barriers to investment

Recent public spending on services covering the First 1000 Days.
Difficulties in making the case for investment nationally and locally.

3. Local provision

The scope, scale and current performance of provision for First 1000 Days of life, including universal and targeted approaches.
Barriers to delivery (e.g. workforce shortages, financial constraints on councils)
What a high-quality evidence-based approach to service provision would look like for the First 1000 Days of life.

Deadline for written submissions is Friday 7 September 2018.

Send your written submissions through the first 1000 days of life inquiry page

Targeted call for evidence (local councils and CCGs)

In addition to the open call for evidence above, the Health and Social Care Committee would also like to invite local councils and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to supply evidence on what provision looks like for the first 1000 days across the country, along with the factors that have influenced the current landscape of provision.

For more information on the inquiry and how to submit evidence, please go to the inquiry webpage

iHV invited to London Assembly Health Committee

The iHV is delighted to have been invited as a panel guest to attend today’s London Assembly Health Committee which is currently investigating healthy early years in London. Dr Robert Nettleton, iHV’s Education Advisor, attended to represent the impact and role of health visiting in the early years.

Dr Robert Nettleton, iHV Education Adviser, at the London Assembly health Committee

Dr Robert Nettleton, iHV Education Advisor, at the London Assembly Health Committee

The Health Committee reviews health and wellbeing across London, with a particular focus on public health issues and reviewing progress of the Mayor’s Health Inequalities Strategy.

In the draft Health Inequalities Strategy, the Mayor outlines two key aims around healthy early years:

The first is for London’s babies to have the best start to life. This ranges from supporting expectant parents through pregnancy, breastfeeding and vaccinations and their general understanding of child development.
The Mayor’s second aim is for early years settings and schools to support children and young people’s health and wellbeing. To support this aim, the Mayor is piloting a new Healthy Early Years Awards programme, which is an extension of the Mayors Healthy Schools programme.

Within London there are variations in breastfeeding rates. Women from black ethnic backgrounds and mothers born outside of the UK are significantly more likely to breastfeed despite many living in deprived circumstances.

The London Assembly Health Committee is investigating healthy early years and how we can give children in London the healthiest start to life.

Breastfeeding rates are lower in London than England as a whole
9 in 10 children aged 2-4 years do not meet recommended levels of physical activity
105 per 10,000 0-4 year olds per year were admitted to hospital with unintentional or deliberate injuries^[1]
London has a slightly higher average of low birthweight than England as a whole (7.1 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively).
Children in London are least likely to receive the required number of health visits.^[2]Recent surveys have highlighted increased workloads for public health nurses.

The following guests attended the Health Committee to answer questions:

Dr Robert Nettleton, Education Advisor, Institute of Health Visiting
Emily Arkell, Head of Health Policy, RCPCH
George Hosking OBE, Founder, CEO and Research Co-ordinator, Wave Trust
Geraldine Butler, Locality Manager West Haringey Health Visiting Service, Hornsey Central Health Central
Kim Roberts, Chief Executive, HENRY
Shabira Papain, Deputy CEO, Best Beginnings

The meeting took place today, Thursday 11 January, in the Chamber at City Hall – details here https://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=6239

iHV at Westminster Briefing

This week, the iHV was on two national platforms focused on the future of child health. We use these opportunities to raise our concerns about the pressures on health visiting services and the risks to children and families as a result.

The national platforms, Westminster Briefing and Public Policy Exchange, are for mixed audiences of government officials, policy makers, local authority commissioners and those involved in running and delivering children’s services.

Dr Cheryll Adams addressing the Westminster Briefing

These events allow for discussion and debate of important issues affecting public health and, coincidentally, both events were focused on Early Years Public Health services this week. They provided a great opportunity to get the facts and evidence about about the benefits of the health visiting service and early intervention to those involved in commissioning and delivering children’s services.

Any delegates unsure of the complexity of the HV role were encouraged to arrange to shadow a HV!

Five new BHFNC fact sheets explore physical activity in the early years

The British Heart Foundation National Centre for Physical Activity and Health (BHFNC) has published five new fact sheets exploring physical activity in the early years.

They each summarise the evidence on a different topic relating to physical activity for children under five.

They are designed for early years practitioners to provide evidence-based information on how much physical activity young children should be doing, why it’s important and how to get children active.

All fact sheets are available to download free of charge from their website.

Please see below for a brief summary of the fact sheets.

Early years physical activity guidelines

Being active helps children under five build and maintain a good level of health. Three physical activity guidelines exist in the UK for the early years. This fact sheet introduces the guidelines and explains what type of activities children can do to achieve each guideline.

Early years physical activity guidelines

Top tips for getting under fives active

In early years settings, there are many simple things you can do to incorporate physical activity throughout the day. This fact sheet provides simple ideas for encouraging activity within your setting including tips for playing outside, encouraging active play and getting parents involved

Top tips for getting under fives active

The importance of physical activity in the early years

The first five years of life are fundamental to children’s growth and development. A number of physical and psychological developments occur in young children, which lay the foundation for future health and wellbeing. During the early years, physical activity impacts on children’s health and plays a key role in their development.

This one-page fact sheet highlights the key areas of a young child’s development supported by physical activity.

The importance of physical activity in the early years

Sedentary behaviour in the early years

For children under five sedentary behaviour can include activities like spending time strapped into baby equipment, watching television, playing games while sitting down or travelling in a car, bus or train.

This fact sheet looks at why minimising sedentary behaviour is so important for young children’s health and offers simple solutions for reducing it.

Sedentary behaviour in the early years

Current levels of physical activity in the early years

The latest facts and figures from the latest research on how active young children are. It looks at the national health surveys for the home countries to give a picture of activity levels across the UK.

Current levelss of physical activity in the eary years