CYP Now - Health visitor shortage 'poses risk' to children with SEND, Ofsted director says

A shortage of health visitors poses a risk to vulnerable children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and victims of domestic violence, who would benefit from early intervention or support, warned Ofsted's director for social care.

Parents of children with SEND have 'suffered hugely' from a lack respite support in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Stanley says. Picture: Adobe Stock

Speaking to CYP Now, Yvette Stanley, raised concerns that vulnerable children are "falling out of the line of sight" of social care and health services due to workforce shortages, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said that health visitor numbers are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, adding that “for a period of time, they carried a lot of vacancies, and their caseloads have increased as a result.”

“For smallest children, the visible eye is most often the health visitor after maternity services."

"We don’t think that health visitors have got back to their pre-pandemic numbers and levels.

“This means that children are presenting in hospital sometimes, with quite worrying injuries, that haven’t been picked up by those universal health services," she added.

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