Babies and young children have been ‘forgotten’

The Institute of Health Visiting has highlighted the damage that the pandemic has had on families, with the youngest and most vulnerable in our society suffering the most.

Health visitors are concerned that the needs of vulnerable babies and young children are invisible as they are only able to focus on what feels like the ‘tip of a very large iceberg’ of unmet need, with almost two-thirds of health visitors reporting an increase in cases of child neglect.

The institute says that four out of five health visitors report soaring increases in domestic violence and abuse, perinatal mental illness, and the negative impact of poverty on families. This has been made worse by babies and young children having largely been forgotten by policy makers, as the government focused on the more conspicuous need to treat infected patients, mostly adults.

Following years of cuts to the public health budget, health visiting entered the pandemic in an already depleted state, with a 31 per cent reduction in health visitors since 2015. Cuts have consequences and these were compounded by the decision to redeploy more than 50 per cent of health visitors in some areas, the national scaling back of the service, and the loss of many face-to-face home visits. As a result, many health visiting services were ill-prepared to meet the rapidly rising levels of need since the earliest weeks of the lockdown, leaving many vulnerable babies and young children without the support that they need.

Alison Morton, deputy executive director at the Institute of Health Visiting, said: “Babies and young children were largely invisible in the first wave of the government’s emergency plans.  With a growing body of evidence, we now know that many children are being harmed by the secondary impact of the pandemic and we cannot knowingly overlook their needs again, as we live with the virus for the foreseeable future.

“Whilst the vaccine brings the glimmer of a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, babies and young children cannot wait – they need help now. Failing to effectively address their needs will only store up significant problems for the future.”