MPs told children's problems missed because of health visitor pressures

23 June 2011 1 min read Janaki Mahadevan Early Years Health

Health visitor caseloads and a focus on targeted provision mean that children's problems such as speech and language delay are not being picked up early enough, a group of MPs has been told.

Giving evidence to the education select committee during a session exploring the role of health visitors in the early years, Maggie Fisher, chair of the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association’s Health Visitors Forum warned that the role of the health visitor was being "diluted".

She said that problems are being missed because health visitors are unable to go out and meet with families regularly.

"To give children a good start in life we need to make sure that things that prevent them developing to their full potential are mitigated against and the universal health visitor service is in a very good position to do that," she said: "The problem has been that the universal service has virtually disappeared and it has become so targeted that it is not being effective any more."

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