Hewitt was left visibly shocked by the news, which emerged during aquestion and answer session at the Community Practitioners' and HealthVisitors' Association conference (CPHVA) in Harrogate last week.
Barbara Evans, chair of the Community Nursery Nurses Forum, told theconference that the pressure on health visitors, who are trained tocarry out babies' first health checks, meant that some of her memberswere having to do them instead.
Evans told Children Now: "We could miss something because we're notnurses. Initial health assessments are what health visitors are trainedto do. And if we do miss something, it's the health visitor's jobregistration on the line. It's because there are such staff shortages.Health visitors are under pressure to only work with child protectioncases."
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