6 | Nursing in Practice | Summer 2022

COVER STORY

Against a backdrop of rising need and ever-tighter resources , nurses continue to push for babies , young children and their parents to receive effective care – but want more support and investment from the Government . Kathy Oxtoby reports

The cost of living crisis continues to have a significant impact on families , and the challenges that confront health visitors and nurses supporting babies , children and parents are greater than ever , practitioners have told Nursing in Practice .

A growing backlog of care arising from the Covid pandemic , and the pressing need to deal with more complex cases and conditions are just some of the pressures being faced .

While demand for services that support families with young children is escalating , the resources required to deliver that support are decreasing , with nurses reporting funding cuts and staff shortages .

In health visiting , for example , the level of pressure has become so great that in May , the Institute of Health Visiting ( iHV ) co-signed an open letter spearheaded by the NSPCC , calling on the Government to rebuild the health visiting service and improve access to mental health services for new parents .

The organisation said health visitors play a vital role in identifying parents who are experiencing mental health problems and in providing or arranging support , but that the workforce in England is ‘ at an all-time low and there are not enough health visitors to meet the level of need ’.

Executive director of iHV Alison Morton goes further , warning that the health visiting workforce is so depleted that she has recently heard of health visitors who are expected to handle a caseload of around 4,000 children , ‘ which is clearly unmanageable ’, she says .

Nurses have responded to the care backlog with new ways of working . In some areas , for example , practice nurses have been supporting health visitors with their workload , and continue to offer some virtual consultations to boost access to services . And nursing bodies are lobbying hard on behalf of children , campaigning alongside the NSPCC and other charities to highlight the shortfall in resources .

The five mandated health visiting points of contact