Found: We worked with health visitors, and I want to say more about them, because they are an extremely important

Found: Professor Samantha Johnson: I do not think parents routinely see health visitors at their child’s age

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure effective collaboration between early intervention services for babies with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Healthy Child Programme is the national public prevention and early intervention health framework for babies, children, and young people. Health visitors are specialist community public health nurses who lead the Healthy Child Programme from preconception to five years old. They deliver evidence-based interventions, which include five mandated reviews: antenatal; approximately two weeks after birth; six to eight weeks after birth; at one years old; and at two to two and a half years old. These include reviews of development and growth. Where a baby or child has special education needs or vulnerabilities, health visitors work in partnership with other professionals and families, to respond to health and care needs.

The Government is also investing approximately £300 million to improve support for families though the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. The programme is implementing many elements of the Government’s Best Start for Life Vision which was published in March 2021, and is delivering a step change in outcomes for babies, children, and their parents and carers in 75 local authorities in England, including those with high levels of deprivation. Many local authorities without funding have also chosen to implement elements of the vision.

Family hubs offer support to families from conception to two years old, and provide services for children of all ages, from zero to 19 years old, or zero to 25 years old for families with children who have special educational needs and disabilities. Family hubs are a way of joining up locally to improve access to services, the connections between families, professionals, services, and providers, and prioritise strengthening the relationships that carry us all through life. They bring together services for children of all ages, with a great Start for Life offer at their core.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding by the NHS Confederation that there has been a 26 per cent cut to the public health grant per person in real terms since 2015–16; and what plans they have to ensure that every baby and young child in England can receive the full Healthy Child Programme.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

At the 2021 Spending Review, we considered the need for local government public health funding, and have provided cash growth in the Public Health Grant to local authorities each year over the settlement period. In 2024/25 the total Public Health Grant to local authorities will be £3.603 billion, providing local authorities with an average 2.1% cash increase compared to 2023/24.

In addition to the Public Health Grant, we have provided additional targeted investment to local authorities in England for drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery, and services that support the best start in life. From April 2024 we will also double current spend on stop smoking services, in support of our commitment to deliver a smoke-free generation. This overall funding package will deliver a real term increase of more than 4%, over the two years 2023/24 and 2024/25, in Department funding allocated for local authority public health functions.

Local authorities are responsible for using their Public Health Grant to provide a Healthy Child Programme that best meet the needs of their local populations. In addition, the health visiting workforce is fundamental to enabling successful delivery of this programme, and as part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, we will be expanding training places by 74% to over 1,300 by 2031/32. To support progress towards this expansion, training places for health visitors will grow by 17% by 2028/29.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to assess the adequacy of staffing levels in public health.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

In October 2022, Health Education England carried out the fifth national census to capture the size and composition of the public health workforce in England. The scope of the 2022 census was expanded to include additional roles beyond specialists, including public health practitioners, advanced practitioners, specialist community public health nurses, including school nurses and health visitors, and public health apprentices. NHS England plans to conduct the next capacity review of the public health workforce in 2025, and will work with the Department to define the scope of the review.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver a health workforce that meets the needs of the population. This includes a commitment to provide 13% more public health specialist training places from 2023/24, and for the NHS to work with the Department to address demand and supply of the public health workforce in future years.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of what can be done to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Prevention and early intervention are paramount to preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and we want to ensure that every family receives the support and guidance they need during the early days of parenthood.

Health visitors have an important role supporting child health, wellbeing, and parenting confidence. They support families in improving health literacy, managing minor illnesses, and preventing accidents, including promoting safe sleeping for babies. Health visitors can also work with early years services to ensure that safer sleep messages are promoted across early years services. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-of-public-health-services-for-children/early-years-high-impact-area-5-improving-health-literacy-managing-minor-illnesses-and-reducing-accidents

The Department is also working alongside NHS England and the National Child Mortality Database (NMCD) to increase the data bank on SIDS, to increase our evidence base, understanding, and inform actions and policy.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses there were in Bournemouth in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2024.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not hold information on National Health Service staff by where they reside. Data on staff working across hospital and community health services is collected and reported based on the hospital trust that employs staff. Therefore, data is presented for the relevant local hospital trust.

The acute hospital trust that covered Bournemouth in 2010 was The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. In 2020 there was a merger with Poole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and now Bournemouth is covered by the newly formed University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. The Department does not hold data on NHS staffing levels for 2024, however the latest data published by NHS England is for November 2023, and is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

Direct comparisons of the change in staffing over time are difficult to make, due to the impact of the merger in 2020. However, the following table shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors and nurses working at The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in November 2010, and the number of FTE doctors and nurses working at University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust in November 2023:

Found: 194,000 work in general practiceInfrastructure support 242,000 Central functions 121,000Nurses and health

Found: varnish p rogrammes and targeted provision of toothbrushes and tooth paste (i .e. postal or through health

Found: % eligible individuals successfully accessing incapacity, carers and other benefits % utilising health

Found: The prompts are intended for use by a range of frontline roles including, but not limited to, health

Found: The prompts are intended for use by a range of frontline roles including, but not limited to, health

Found: The prompts are intended for use by a range of frontline roles including: health visitors midwives nursing

Found: Health Visitors should offer a minimum of 11 home visits during that period as a way of monitoring and

Found: In addition to roles typically thought of as working with children and young people such as health visitors

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether mental health is routinely covered in NHS antenatal classes, and how antenatal classes contribute to preventing mental health issues among (a) parents and (b) infants.

Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health

Within the wider policies set out by the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland is expected to deliver services that provide high-quality care that is safe, effective, accessible and person centred. It is NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally who have responsibility for service delivery, including antenatal classes, to meet the needs of their local population and service users.

Our expectation is that NHS antenatal classes will include information for parents on bonding with their baby, which supports the mental health of both parents and babies. The precise content of antenatal classes is likely to vary between NHS Boards and antenatal class groups, to better respond to the particular needs of local service users.

Midwives discuss mental health and general wellbeing with all women during antenatal and postnatal care appointments, ensuring that all women have access to advice and support throughout their pregnancy journey. These discussions may include the management of pre-existing mental health issues; the identification and management of emergent mental health issues during the antenatal and/ or immediate postnatal period, and possible postnatal changes which women may experience, such as “baby blues”. Following birth, these conversations continue with families during each contact with Health Visitors and Family Nurses.

All pregnant women are also provided with a copy of Ready, Steady, Baby! , a guide to pregnancy, birth and early parenthood up to one year, as part of their routine antenatal care. This includes information on mental health and wellbeing to help provide information for families, as well as signposting to further sources of support. The information in Ready, Steady, Baby! is available in translation and alternative formats, including an Easy Read resource, to ensure the information is accessible for women and families across Scotland.