New Items of Urgent Business
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Health Visitors
Claire Wright, Assistant Director for Commissioning - NHS Haringey and Duncan Stroud, Associate Director – Communications, Engagement and Partnerships – NHS Haringey were invited to the meeting to update the Committee on the health visitor service.
The Committee noted that Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) was currently delivering health visitor services on a priority basis due to large work loads; a high number of health visitor vacancies and an increase in the birth rate. It had not been possible to extend the universal programme for health visitor services due to the increase in child protection cases but discussions on how to best provide universal health visitor services were being held between GOSH and Haringey’s Children’s Services.
Committee members expressed concerns that only 14% of mothers in Haringey received one-year visits from a health visitor and asked officers to investigate how other boroughs such as Tower Hamlets provided a much higher level health visitor service and noted that this could be due to the higher level of funding received by other authorities (action 101.1).
Assistant Director for Commissioning - NHS Haringey – stated that the aspiration was to provide a multi-agency service for all in Haringey, which would be led by the health visitors service.
The Director of Children’s Services - L. B. Haringey added that some Children’s Centres provided a full health visitor services. He also highlighted that future Sure Start grant funding would be ring-fenced and would be used to enhance health visitor services.
Officers would investigate a Committee Member’s report that the baby-clinic in the Highgate Children’s Centre only offered a baby weighing service and not universal health visitor services (action 101.2).
The Committee agreed that GOSH had not fulfilled the criteria for providing health visitor services and that the department was failing new mothers in the Borough. Committee Members also expressed concerns that targeting health visitor services created a stigma which could result in fewer people taking up services.