Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
During the Covid inquiry, the head of a health visiting charity criticized the NHS for its decision to redeploy health visitors during the pandemic, stating it was “fundamentally flawed” and resulted in harm to children. Alison Morton, CEO of the Institute of Health Visiting, expressed concerns over the redeployment of health visitors to other parts of the NHS at the onset of the pandemic, emphasizing that they were most needed on their front line. NHS England’s Chief Nursing Officer, Duncan Burton, defended the decision, highlighting that safeguarding efforts continued despite staff diversions to critical services.
Research conducted by University College London revealed that health visitors in nearly two-thirds of trusts in England were redeployed in March 2020. While the intention was for them to support acutely ill patients in hospitals, some health visitors were assigned to administrative tasks, parcel deliveries, and phone answering. This led to an overwhelming case load for the remaining health visitors, with some handling up to 750 children, far exceeding the recommended 250 per health visitor. The lack of protection for babies and children was underscored by evidence presented to the inquiry.
The Institute of Health Visiting raised concerns with the government throughout the summer of 2020 regarding the redeployments and eventually received a directive from the Chief Nursing Officer for England in October 2020 to cease the redeployments. Despite this, a strong intervention was required to prevent another round of redeployments in December 2020. The inquiry is scheduled to hear from government officials who were in power at the time in the coming weeks to gain further insights into the decision-making process during the pandemic.
Professor Steve Turner from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health emphasized the significant impact of the pandemic on children, highlighting that they were disproportionately affected and became a lower priority in both the pandemic response and recovery period. The inquiry aims to investigate the implications of key decisions made by the government on children and young people amidst the pandemic. Children’s waiting lists grew at a faster rate than adults’ during the recovery phase, emphasizing the challenges faced by the healthcare system in addressing the needs of children post-pandemic
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.