Accelerating the return to near-normal levels of non-Covid health services

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 Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (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.

Read the letter here

iHV co-signs letter to Prime Minister to act now to improve babies’ wellbeing

At the start of Infant Mental Health Awareness Week, the leaders of nearly 80 organisations, including the Institute, have signed a letter to the Prime Minister calling on him to make the youngest children a national priority in order to mitigate the secondary and potentially long-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, said:

“Health visitors have seen at first hand the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown on new families, and therefore support this important call for much more attention to be placed by government onto the earliest days. There is no other time in the lifespan where investment will save so much on later fiscal spend. It is not only the right thing to do, it also makes sound economic sense and we hope that the prime minister will want to support this call.”

The letter from the First 1001 Days Movement argues that, as politicians decide on COVID-19 relief and recovery packages, there is an opportunity now to invest in the wellbeing of babies and toddlers and the parents that care for them, as part of efforts to build back a better Britain.

The signatories, which include major children’s and mental health charities and professional bodies who are all part of the First 1001 Days Movement, ask the Prime Minister to champion a cross-government strategy for improving outcomes for all children. This should set out a vision for how families will be supported to recover from the impact of COVID-19 and how the Government will begin to ‘level up’ and close gaps in outcomes which have widened during the pandemic.

Download First 1001 Days Movement letter to Prime Minister

iHV joins global call to put Public Health at centre of COVID-19 recovery

The Institute of Health Visiting joins over 40 million doctors, nurses and other health professionals from 90 countries, including many working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, in sending a letter today to G20 leaders urging them to put public health at the centre of their economic recovery packages, to help avoid future crises and make the world more resilient to them.

In the biggest health community mobilisation since the run-up to the 2015 Paris climate agreement, over 350 medical groups representing health professionals (including the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses, the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation, the World Organization of Family Doctors and the World Federation of Public Health Associations) have signed the letter on behalf of their members, along with thousands of individual health professionals.

The letter asks governments to prioritise investments in public health, clean air, clean water and a stable climate in the economic stimulus packages currently under consideration. Such investments would reduce air pollution and climate-warming emissions, which damage human health, build greater resilience to future pandemics, and simultaneously create more sustainable jobs.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, said:

“The world has the opportunity now to ensure that the next generation is not inhibited by the mistakes of the last. By tackling climate change and ensuring better preparedness for any future pandemics, babies can be given the opportunity for a long and healthy life where they have the health, wellbeing and opportunity to contribute to their economy, to future economies, and to the wellbeing of their descendants.”

To achieve this healthy recovery, leaders of the G20 countries must involve their medical and scientific community in developing the stimulus packages. These stimulus decisions must also take into account medical and scientific assessments of how the measures will impact public health in the short- and long-term.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed doctors, nurses and other health professionals to death, disease and mental distress at levels not seen in decades. The scale of this pain could have been at least partially mitigated by adequate investments in pandemic preparedness, public health and environmental stewardship, the letter states.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has made very clear, the economy suffers when human health is compromised. A science-based approach to a healthy recovery from COVID-19 must lead to decisions to reduce both air pollution, which weakens the lungs, hearts and other organs, and greenhouse gas emissions, which cause drought, extreme heat, flooding, wildfires and other life-threatening disruptions. This should be alongside ensuring every baby is given the best possible start in life and access to education and their parents supported.

A healthy recovery requires governments to invest in sustainable and innovative industries, jobs, food production and food supply chains. In doing so, leaders will encourage healthier diets, more renewable energy, more walking, cycling and zero-emissions public transport, a radical regeneration of trees and nature and other changes that will underpin human, economic and planetary health well into the future.

This letter is supported and promoted by the Global Climate and Health Alliance, Every Breath Matters, and the World Health Organization in service of the global medical and health community.

Go to full list of letter signatories

Executive Director writes to the Prime Minister on behalf of children

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE has written to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson MP, to ask him to start to strengthen the health visiting profession now 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.

In the letter to the Prime Minister, the Institute is calling for a national strategy to start to rebuild the health visiting service now, so that it will be able to respond to a range of problems that are expected to be found when families come out of lockdown. These include missed developmental delays, maternal and paternal mental illness, and growing levels of reported domestic violence. Science has shown that, if not recognised promptly, all can have a significant impact on an infant’s growth and development and their functioning in the future.

Dr Adams has offered the Institute’s recently published Vision document as a framework for new developments for health visiting alongside their expertise.

Calls for Party Leaders to put children at the heart of this election…

iHV is delighted to join over 140 organisations in a call to all political parties to put children and young people at the heart of this General Election.

Our open letter calls on all political leaders to set out their solutions to the pressing issues facing children and young people, including child poverty, mental health, domestic abuse and serious youth violence.

You can show your support on social media using the hashtag #ChildrenAtTheHeart.

Children and young people are joining our call and raising their voices on social media, using the hashtag #IfIWerePM to share their priorities for the next Government.

Read open letter to all political parties #ChildrenAtTheHeart

United for better early years

Today, iHV is also a partner in a second letter calling for Party Leaders to take meaningful action to improve perinatal and early years support. These first 1,001 days are so critical to a child’s development – a better childhood starts right here.

Read open letter for perinatal and early years support

iHV calls for manifesto pledges for children

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) has written an open letter which challenges the main political parties in England to commit to important manifesto pledges for children which it hopes to see from the next government.

Children in the UK have some of the worst outcomes when compared with the rest of Europe and similar countries in the world. It’s time for solutions, our children cannot wait any longer.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, said: “The outcomes from disinvestment in preventative services for children are increasingly stark. In the words of Nelson Mandela, ‘The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children’. There is no doubt that England needs to do much much better. Children are our future, get it right in the early years and all of society benefits.”

Now is the time for solutions:

A few weeks ago the Institute published “Health Visiting in England: A Vision for the future” which sets out how a robust health visiting service provides an important part of the solution to a multitude of government priorities, with 18 recommendations.

Of these, the three most urgent requests are:

Local authorities need to receive urgent and ring-fenced public health investment to cancel planned cuts to the health visiting profession this year and next.
A review of 0-5 public health funding is needed with a new mechanism for sustainable funding in England. A shift in emphasis in language and policy is needed, from “releasing efficiencies”/ short-term return on investment in 0-5 public health, to a recognition by government that investment in prevention and early intervention in the early years is a sound investment in our children’s and society’s futures.
Urgent action is needed to rebuild the health visiting workforce, training 5000 health visitors is estimated to cost £137million. The public health grant would then need an uplift of £240million to cover these substantive posts. These costs are relatively insignificant against the cost of not intervening as set out in our Vision.

Read iHV’s letter to the political parties

Follow and support #FutureofHV on social media

iHV writes to Treasury for renewed focus on strengthening health visiting in Spending Review

The Institute has written to the Treasury with a call for a renewed focus on strengthening the health visiting service in England in the forthcoming Spending Review.

The letter sets out the case for an effective health visiting service as an important part of the solution to numerous cross-government department priorities for children. Yet, the Institute also raises concerns about the current variation in the way that local areas prioritise and support families in the first 1000 days with considerable unwarranted variation in the level of service that families receive dependent on where they live, rather than their level of need.

Download iHV letter to the Treasury - May 2019

iHV co-signs letter calling for improved support for children and young people with SLCN

The Institute, together with leading organisations from the world of children’s health and social care, education, justice, disability, has co-signed a letter sent to the Prime Minister calling for more action to improve support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director of the Institute of Health Visiting, said:

“The iHV is pleased to co-sign such an important letter to raise the need for better support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). We are delighted to already be working with PHE and DfE on new training for health visitors to help close the language gap between disadvantaged children and their peers (as announced last week). However, there is plenty more to be done to tackle the inequality of services – further actions are needed to improve the life chances for these children and young people, enabling them to reach their full potential.

“We fully support the call for joint commissioning to put an end to the postcode lottery of support for these children and young people. In addition, the implementation of a cross-Government strategy for children and young people would enable children and young people to fulfil their potential.”

Coordinated by I CAN, the children’s charity, and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), the coalition of over 60 organisations has sent an open letter to the Prime Minister calling on the Government to tackle the inequality of services for some 1.4 million children and young people with SLCN in the UK. The coalition wants to see urgent action in five key areas, which will improve the life chances for these children and young people, enabling them to reach their full potential.

The coalition urges action on:

Joint commissioning to put an end to the postcode lottery of support for these children and young people;
Support for children and young people with long-term, persistent SLCN, who require some level of specialist help during and beyond their early years;
Providing professional development for those working in education, including teachers and teaching assistants, to enable all children and young people to develop language and communication skills. Teachers also need to be able to identify children and young people with SLCN as early as possible so they can be supported effectively;
Incentivising schools to give speech, language and communication the priority it deserves;
Training practitioners who are working with vulnerable children and young people, including; looked after children, those in the youth justice system or who are living with mental health issues, in how to recognise SLCN and respond effectively. They must also have access to specifically commissioned speech and language therapy services for those children and young people who need them

The letter to the Prime Minister comes as I CAN and the RCSLT publish the first anniversary update to their joint report, Bercow: Ten Years On, which looked at the state of provision for children and young people with SLCN in England. Of the 47 recommendations for action made in the report, 17 of them have been implemented. However, far more needs to be done by the Government.

Read letter

iHV co-signs open letter on public health funding

The Times has published an open letter organised by the Association of Directors of Public Health, and co-signed by 54 health leaders including the Institute of Health Visiting, calling for public health to be a priority in the Spending Review.

Furthermore, an article was also published in The Times to accompany it.

The text of the letter and list of signatories is available here on the ADPH website.

Go to The Times to read the open letter - please note you need to be a subscriber to read online.

Go to the Times to read the article Long-term plan to prevent illness at risk from cuts

Please note you need to be a subscriber to The Times to read both the letter and article online.

Statement from UK healthcare professionals on the importance of childhood vaccination

The iHV is one of a group of healthcare professionals to sign a letter, issued to all media, including parenting magazines and websites, stressing the safety of vaccinations and the importance of getting children vaccinated.

Statement from UK healthcare professionals on the importance of childhood vaccination

“As healthcare professionals, we want to send a strong message to parents. Having your child vaccinated is the only effective way of protecting them against many serious and potentially fatal diseases. Routine vaccinations are safe and thoroughly tested long before they are made available to the public. Vaccines strengthen our own immune defences against disease.

“Illnesses such as measles, mumps and rubella are serious and can lead to severe life-long
complications and sometimes death, in children and adults. These diseases can be prevented with vaccines. Although most of us have never seen them in our lifetime, they will return if children are not vaccinated. This would be a tragedy that can and must be prevented.

“Vaccinations are safe, effective, and crucial to safeguarding child health.”

Professor Neena Modi, President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Dr Cheryll Adams, CBE, Executive Director, Institute of Health Visiting
Professor Simon Capewell, Vice-President for Policy, Faculty of Public Health
Nicola Close, Chief Executive, Association of Directors of Public Health
Janet Davies, Chief Executive and General Secretary, Royal College of Nursing
Professor Lesley Regan, President, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of Council, Royal College of General Practitioners
Cathy Warwick, CBE, Chief Executive, Royal College of Midwives