Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the backlog of Healthy Child Programme appointments; and what steps he is taking to reduce that backlog.

Health visitors have continued to partially deliver the healthy child programme offer throughout the pandemic, providing continued support to families with known vulnerabilities and facilitate the identification of families with new or previously unidentified vulnerabilities during lockdown. Contacts with families have been virtual unless there was a compelling clinical or safeguarding need, ensuring children remain safe and protected.

National data is not yet available to provide insight into the reach of health visiting services during lockdown.

NHS England and NHS Improvement published the restoration framework for community health services for children and young people on 3 June 2020. The framework recommends that community health services move to restore health visiting services, following their prioritisation during the containment phase of the pandemic. The guidance recommends continuation of essential services, including antenatal, new birth and six to eight-week contacts, and the need for face to face support for vulnerable families.

The Restoration framework for community health services – children and young people can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/covid-19-prioritisation-within-community-health-services-with-annex_19-march-2020/