Councils call for CPD budgets to extend to all health visitors

New government funding of £210 million for NHS nurses to improve their training and skills should be expanded to cover public health workers, such as health visitors and school nurses, councils say.

Institute of Health Visiting. Library Photography. Picture: Cleverbox / www.matthewwalkerphotography.com

Offering greater training and upskilling opportunities would also encourage more people into nursing and to stay in the profession for longer, at a time when the sector is experiencing severe problems in recruitment and retention.

Read full story on LGA website

iHV Executive Director meets First Lady of Kenya at launch of GNPHN conference

iHV Executive Director, Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, met Margaret Kenyatta, First Lady of Kenya, at the launch of the 5th International Global Network of Public Health Nursing (GNPHN) conference in Nairobi, taking place 14-16 May 2019.

Lady Kenyatta is a GNPHN council member.

Margaret Kenyatta, First Lady of Kenya, with the GNPHN Council at GNPHN conference 2019

Margaret Kenyatta, First Lady of Kenya, at GNPHN conference 2019

Proceedings are well under way at the GNPHN conference in Nairobi! Please see below just a few videos from the first day!

The arrival of First Lady Margaret Kenyatta to the conference venue, the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi.

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta launches the conference by unveiling the quilt…

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta addresses the conference…

Enter FPH photo competition to celebrate what #PublicHealthLooksLike

The Faculty of Public Health (FPH) has just launched a photo competition to celebrate what ‘public health looks like’.

They would love lots of public health practitioners to be involved and we think it would be great to see health visitors involved too! The aim is to capture powerful images that bring to life the incredible breadth and diversity of public health – to take photos of what ‘public health looks like’ through your eyes.

By entering this competition and taking a photo that represents what public health looks like to you, you’ll be helping FPH on their journey to showcase the value of public health and the impact your work has in the UK and around the world. And it would be great to have health visiting showcased too!

What can you win?

The ten winning photos will be displayed at a photography exhibition in Spring 2019. There are a number of other prizes up for grabs as well including cash prizes and free FPH membership.

How can you enter?

Capture a photo that best describes what public health is to you and submit it via the form on the FPH website.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 19 October at 23:59.

If you’ve got any questions or want further info, first of all take a look on the FPH website. If you can’t find the answer to your query then you can email [email protected]

Go to FPH #WhatPublicHealthLooksLike

iHV calls for urgent action to protect babies and children’s health and development

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) calls for Government to reverse the cuts to public health budgets and reinvest in health visiting services to protect and support the health and development of babies, children and families, and, in the medium and longer term, for all in our society.

In a letter to the Chancellor, the Institute details how the year-on-year reductions in the public health budgets is leading to far-reaching declines in health inequalities across England – impacting the long-term health outcomes for our children, as well as society.

A policy change in 2015 moved the commissioning of health visiting services to local government, coinciding with a 6.2% reduction of the public health budget during that financial year and further annual cost savings of 3.9% each year until 2020.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, executive director iHV, said:

“We know so much today with respect to what can influence children’s outcomes across their life course and in turn benefit the whole country. The impact of the public health budget cuts on babies and children is very worrying and upsetting. It is alarming that, in the two years since the commissioning change, the number of health visitors seems to have reduced by around 18%*, and could rapidly be approaching an all-time low.”

Health visitors play a vital role in supporting babies, children and families in the early years of life. There is a strong research base that demonstrates that a significant part of an individual’s ‘blue print’ for their future mental wellbeing is laid down in the first two years of life. This is a critical window for supporting parents to help their children build solid social and emotional wellbeing. Health visiting services are effective at identifying and reducing the impact of health inequalities, so reducing the burden of care both in the short and longer term.

Dr Adams continued:

“As a nation, we cannot afford not to invest in our children as they are our future, yet recently their needs seem to have become invisible against the many competing demands being made on Government and the NHS. The work of the health visitor often goes unseen, until you take it away. Government may soon have to face the effects of some of the lowest ratios of health visitors to children experienced by this country in living memory.

“It’s time to act, to help ensure the best health outcomes for all UK children today, and in the future. We need urgent action from the Government to increase their investment in public health prevention and early intervention to ensure that health visitors can continue to give every child the opportunity to have the best start in life.”

*NHS Digital

New reports from PHE: social inequity drives health inequalities

Two new reports from Public Health England (PHE), launched today, once again flag up the importance of social inequity to driving health inequalities – the Health profile for England report and the Public Health Outcomes: health equity report.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, executive director iHV, says

“It is very helpful to again see this focus on the wider determinants of health. There are lots of messages here for health visitors to consider and discuss with their colleagues, employers and local authority commissioners with respect to the communities where they work.”

The “Health Profile for England” report summarises the current picture of and trends in health outcomes in England with a focus on mortality, morbidity, risk factors and the social determinants of health. It brings together key PHE data and knowledge on the health of the population and fills gaps in existing outputs. It also looks at how England compares with other European countries and describes inequalities in outcomes within England. It summarises inequalities in outcomes and the impact of the social determinants of health.

Go to PHE: Health Profile for England report

The “Public Health Outcomes Framework: Health Equity Report” examines inequalities in outcomes and the social determinants of health between different population groups and has a special focus on ethnicity. It will increase understanding of inequalities in health outcomes between different populations and address some gaps in existing data and analysis.

Go to PHE: Public Health Outcomes Framework: Health Equity report

Watch PHE launch of reports:

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!

LGA – Improving outcomes for children and families in the early years: a key role for health visiting services

The Local Government Association (LGA) has produced a booklet, with some great case studies, to help local authorities to understand the role of health visitors in improving the outcomes for children and families in the early years.

LGA – Improving outcomes for children and families in the early years: a key role for health visiting services

These case studies demonstrate examples of innovation. But there have also been challenges. Concerns have been raised that in some areas health visitor posts are being cut as a consequence of the reductions to local government funding.

The cuts to local authority public health budgets make it more important than ever for health visitors and commissioners to work together to monitor and evaluate the impact of the service.

LGA - Improving outcomes for children and families in the early years: a key role for health visiting services

0-19 Research Network: Yorkshire and the Humber – 11 Jan 2017

Bringing together those across Yorkshire and the Humber involved in or developing research that can strengthen the knowledge base relevant to school nursing and health visiting

Are you a school nurse or health visitor with an interest in research?
Do you work in a public health role with 0-19s and have an interest in research?
Are you a researcher with an interest in, or undertaking, research relevant to school nursing and health visiting?

The 0-19 Research Network: Yorkshire and the Humber’s goal is to see the growth in new research relationships that can strengthen research practice in health visiting and school nursing and support service delivery and innovation for 0-19s. In 2017, they will be running a series of meetings in Yorkshire and the Humber with the aim of increasing research engagement and research capacity of health visitors and school nurses and others working in 0-19 services.

These meetings are funded by the Y & H Clinical Research Network – and complement the North of England Health Visitor and Child Health Research Network which has been running since 2013.

The first meeting will be on Wednesday 11 January 2017 11am-3pm at
The Bar Convent Conference Centre,
17 Blossom Street,
York YO24 1AQ

They hope to welcome everyone interested in research – both new and experienced researchers
Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

This is a free event but prior booking is essential. Please contact Liz Flower: [email protected]
For further information about the network please contact Dr Sue Peckover: [email protected]

See event flyer

Public Health spending cuts stop health visitors protecting and supporting mothers and babies

The Institute of Health Visiting’s State of Health Visiting Survey 2016 shows the drastic impact the cuts to the local authority public health budgets are already having on the universal public health services delivered by health visitors. In response, the Institute is calling upon the government to reinvest in public health to protect and support mothers and babies by stopping cuts to the health visiting service by cash-strapped local authorities.

According to the State of Health Visiting survey 2016, 85% of health visitors (HVs) of the 1224 surveyed say their workload has increased over the past two years – with 40% of the increase in workload due to a reduction in the number of health visitors, this is despite the huge investment which went into the service between 2012-15. 16% of HVs reported they now have caseloads of between 500 and 1000 children – the optimum average caseload for safe and effective practice is 250. Most worryingly, this is at a time when 80% of the respondents also report seeing an increase in domestic violence and abuse and perinatal depression in the families they visit.

The cuts have impacted on the delivery of the universal service, with only 70% of all families receiving the mandated health visitor reviews at 6-8 weeks, one year and 2-2.5 year, and only 30% of all families receiving the antenatal visit. Through these stretched resources, only 5% of HVs are able to offer consistent continuity of care to all families and 72% worry about providing inadequate safeguarding and child protection support.

Official figures show that at least 988 full time posts (NHS Digital, 2016) have been lost between Sept 2015 and August 2016, with 56% of local authorities planning further cuts next year (Evidence to Health Select Committee, 2016).

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, executive director of the Institute of Health Visiting, said:

“Our annual survey of the state of health visiting shows a radical downgrading of this public health asset, which serves the most formative period of children’s lives. Health visitors should provide a universal service to every family in the country with a child under the age of five. This survey hence exposes the risks to all children and families from a decommissioning of health visitor posts, which it seems is just about to accelerate. The impact will not only be felt by children and families, there will be a knock-on effect on the NHS and other local authority services such as safeguarding services. We can expect increased use of secondary health and local authority children’s services in the short, medium and longer term as many health and social concerns won’t be identified early enough. The cuts will also increase health inequalities as needy families will be missed until their problems are obvious.”

Read full press release

iHV supports RCPCH letter in response to the investigation into public health cuts conducted by the HSJ

iHV is a signatory to a letter, lead by the Royal College for Paediatric and Child Health (RCPCH), which was sent to the Health Service Journal (HSJ) in response to an article written last week about how public health cuts are damaging to child health.

The HSJ investigation revealed that services aimed at children and young people are bearing the brunt of cuts to public health spending by local authorities.

Overall, their analysis identified planned spending reductions worth £50.5m in 2016-17, across 77 local authorities which provided information. Of the £50.5m cuts in 2016-17, the biggest single area was a £7m reduction to services directly aimed at improving the health of children and young people, such as health visiting, school nursing and childhood obesity programmes. These represented 14% of the total.

The letter signed by 12 leading specialists, warned that any spending cuts imposed by local authorities could have a “significant impact on the future health of children”. Scaling back spending on health visitors, child obesity programmes and school nurses will have a detrimental effect on the future health of children and young people in the UK it said.

A copy of an article in relation to this can be found on the HSJ and you can see a copy of the letter in full on the RCPCH’s website.

The letter is also shared below:

Dear Sir,

At a time where child wellbeing in the UK ranks a poor 16th out of 29 income rich countries, putting us below Slovenia and the Czech Republic, children are becoming overweight or obese earlier and breastfeeding rates are deemed the worst in the world, it is highly concerning to learn that of the £50.5m spending reductions planned for 2016-17 by local authorities, the biggest single area affected was services directly aimed at improving the health of children and young people (‘Children’s services hardest hit by public health cuts,’ 4 July 2016). Cuts are also affecting services for pregnant women such as smoking cessation and this could have a significant impact on the future health of children.

If we are to improve outcomes for children and young people in the UK, then it is vital that services provided by local authorities such as health visiting, school nurses and weight management programmes are protected. Without them, obesity rates will rise and the associated health costs will spiral, breastfeeding rates will fail to get better and thousands of babies each year will miss out on the many benefits it provides. In addition, obesity prevention, school nurses and health visitors are all important in the prevention and early detection of mental health problems, so these services are vital for maintaining both the physical and mental health of our children. We call on Government to invest in child health now because by doing so, it will protect the future health of the nation.

Professor Russell Viner, Officer for Health Promotion, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH)
Shirley Cramer, CEO, The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH)
Professor John Middleton, President of the Faculty of Public Health
Sarah Carpenter, head of Health, Community Practitioners’ & Health Visitors’ Association
Sarah Carpenter, head of Health, Unite
Dr Ingrid Wolfe, Chair, British Association for Child & Adolescent Public Health
Janet Davies, Chief Executive & General Secretary at the Royal College of Nursing
Dr David Richmond, President, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG)
Dr Cheryll Adams, CBE, Executive Director, Institute of Health Visiting
Cathy Warwick, CEO, Royal College of Midwives
Jane Barlow, President, Association of Infant Mental Health
Stephen Dalton, Chief Executive, NHS Confederation
Bernadka Dubicka, Vice-chair, faculty of child and adolescent psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrist, Honorary reader, University of Manchester; Consultant psychiatrist, Lancashire Care Foundation Trust
Prof Karen Middleton, chief executive of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy