NHS long term plan must ‘put our children first’ - Jonathan Ashworth

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, is today (Wednesday 17 October) unveiling new research which finds NHS health visitors have been cut by 8 per cent over the past year, whilst the number of school nurses has been slashed by nearly a quarter since May 2010.

Speaking at the annual Unite/CPHVA Conference, Jonathan Ashworth will today call for the Government’s NHS Long Term Plan to “put our children first”. 

He will describe health visitor and school nurse cuts as ‘savage’, resulting in ‘shameful’ national inequalities in standards of care received by children.

Jonathan Ashworth will also reiterate Labour’s pledge to an additional mandated health visit at 3 to 4 months, as part of Labour’s commitment to making Britain’s children the healthiest in the world.

As a Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health report revealed earlier this week, child health outcomes in Britain are lagging behind most other high-income countries on obesity rates, tooth decay and mortality.

Labour’s pledge therefore forms part of Labour’s all-out effort to tackle health inequalities and prioritise children’s health and wellbeing.

Labour’s new analysis shows that since the end of the national Health Visitor Programme in 2015, staffing numbers have tailed off:

• In June 2018 there were 7,910 health visitors working in the NHS.
• Numbers are now at their lowest level since October 2012.
• Since June 2017 there has been a fall of 678 health visitors-  equivalent to 57 a month- down from 8,588 health visitors. This is an 8% reduction in just one year.

The impact of cuts to health visitor numbers is now leading to a huge variation in the standard of care which children receive around the country:

• 11.5% of babies missed out on a new born visit in the most recent period, but performance was mixed – rising to 17.2% in the South West of England.
• In Wakefield, 99.6% of babies were seen within fourteen days, but in North Somerset it was just 44.9%.
• Just 60.2% of babies in London received a mandated one year check – with figures as low as 1.3% in Enfield and 12.3% in Islington.
• 90.1% of North East babies received a two and a half year check, compared to just 76.9% in the West Midlands and 62.6% in London

Labour is also revealing steep cuts to NHS school nurses and community nursery nurses:

• There has been a 24.7% cut in NHS school nurses between May 2010 (2,987 nurses) and June 2018 (2,248). This is the equivalent of 739 nurses.
• There has been an estimated 15.4% cut in NHS community nursery nurses since the Tories came into power- from 2,229 nurses in May 2010 to 1,885 in June 2018. This is the equivalent of 344 nurses.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, speaking to the annual Unite/CPHVA conference in Bournemouth, will say:

“Radically improving the health and wellbeing of every child will be a personal mission of mine in a Labour government. Health visitors play a crucial role in caring for vulnerable children and their mothers from the very beginning of life. We know that early intervention and the first 1,001 days of life are critical in a child’s development, a fact this Government is blatantly turning a blind eye towards.

“Yet savage cuts to health visitors, school nurses and community nursery nurses is another betrayal of our children. The truth is that the Government’s unprecedented cuts are dismantling the country's public health system, failing some of the most vulnerable in our society and leaving children’s services at risk.

“This week we learnt from the RCPCH of the potentially tragic consequences of failing to invest in children and the services they rely on. 

“Today Labour is challenging ministers to reverse cuts to public health prevention budgets and guarantee the NHS Long Term plan puts our children first. 

“Child health outcomes in this country are dire compared with other leading nations, with frankly shameful national inequalities in care standards- something which should shame this Government into urgent action.

“Unlike the Tories, I’m committed to giving every child the best possible start in life and central to our strategy will be delivering more health visitors in every community, ending the stark inequalities which continue to blight our children’s future, and giving parents even more support through an additional health visit.”

Ends

Notes to Editors:

Labour has pledged to introduce an additional mandated health visit at 3-4 months, as part of Labour’s commitment to making Britain’s children the healthiest in the world:

• Experts say that 3-4 months is when mothers are at substantial risk of perinatal mental health problems, and is a critical time in supporting continued breastfeeding. 
• Labour will commit an additional £25 million for health visiting to fund the pledge, paid for from Labour’s costed National Child Health Fund.

Notes to editors:

• Jonathan Ashworth will address the Unite/CPHVA annual conference in Bournemoth on Wednesday 17 October 2018. More details here: http://www.cphvaconference.co.uk
• Increasing the number of health visitors was a key pledge of the Cameron Government.
  • Ahead of the 2010 General Election Theresa May said that “a Conservative government will increase the number of health visitors, who give valued support to women who have just given birth”.
  • In 2009 Theresa May justified planned cuts to Sure Start by saying the money would be used for health visiting instead: “What we will do is make some changes to how the centres operate, and, significantly, we will use money that this Government are setting aside for Sure Start outreach workers to increase the number of health visitors.”
• Latest workforce figures for Health Visitors taken from NHS Workforce Statistics June 2018 (Staff Group, Area and Level) https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics/june-2018
• Latest outcomes figures for health visiting services taken from Health visitor service delivery metrics 2017 to 2018
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-visitor-service-delivery-metrics-2017-to-2018
• Headlines regional outcome figures for Q4 2017/18 are:

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s report ‘Child Health in 2030 in England: comparisons with other wealthy countries’ makes the following projections:

• Mortality rates may be 140% higher for infants in England than in comparable wealthy nations by 2030
• Reported mental health problems are set to increase by 60%, based on current trends
• 1 in 3 of the most deprived boys in England will be obese by 2030 without urgent implementation of the Childhood Obesity Plan and additional measures
• A&E attendances for children may increase by 50% and outpatient attendances by 48%