
Job losses, service cuts and strikes - these are the subjects that have dominated coverage of health visiting in recent months.
Since the Conservative and Liberal Democrats coalition government delivered on its 2010 pledge to push health visitor numbers past the 10,000 mark, the number of practitioners has fallen by a quarter.
Most recent data published by NHS Digital shows there were 7,852 health visitors employed in July 2018 compared to 10,309 in April 2015.
The fall has been driven largely by cuts to health visiting spending by cash-strapped local authorities - which took on responsibility for commissioning children's public health in 2015 - and has resulted in services being scaled back, roles merged and caseloads rising.
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