Planned health visitor cutbacks in Derbyshire to be scrapped
The decision follows public opposition
Last updated 17th Feb 2025
A number of cutbacks to check-ups on Derbyshire mothers and babies are set to be scrapped after public opposition.
Derbyshire County Council’s Conservative cabinet is set to back a number of cutbacks to its health visitor service due to ongoing budget pressures, including a lack of sufficient Government grant support.
However, a number of the most opposed cutbacks are now set to be dropped.
One change to the cutbacks is for a stay of execution for the existing pre-school review for toddlers aged three and a half.
This is not a statutory part of the health visitor service. A total of 72 per cent of consultation respondents opposed a plan to scrap it entirely.
Leading councillors are now set to approve the three-and-a-half-year review being reduced to families who have been identified as high risk, but only for the next year.
If further “significant cost pressures” to the health visiting service are identified over the next year then the council would scrap the three-and-a-half-year checkup.
A plan to utilise a different skill mix of staff to carry out the one-year reviews appears to have been dropped after 70 per cent of consultation respondents objected.
The health visitor check-ups have been badged by councillors and experts as vital opportunities to gain access to the homes of families where children could be at risk – an issue often highlighted in serious case reviews.
Meanwhile, a plan to reduce antenatal reviews just to families who had been identified as more at risk has also been dropped.
Cutbacks which will go ahead are using a different mix of staff to carry out the two-and-a-half-year review (42 per cent object, 41 per cent support) and carrying out the antenatal (pre-birth) reviews using a mixture of face-to-face home visits, phonecalls and videocalls – instead of purely in-person at home (40 per cent object, 44 per cent support).
Cllr Carol Hart, the county council’s cabinet member for health and communities, said: “With demand for support rising and continuing uncertainty around increasing costs, it means we have to consider how we continue to support those who need us most while continuing to deliver the services we are required to by law.
“We recognise that every family is different and there will be times when some might need more support than others.
“We’ve listened to what people told us during the consultation so these proposals will continue to support all families but also ensure professionals continue to work together to identify where a child’s needs change and provide targeted support where that’s needed.”
When councillors debated the consultation responses last month Cllr Dave Allen said: “There is still concern about the risk of missed opportunities. We are all aware of high profile cases where children are missed and we can pick them up first-hand here instead of relying on other agencies.
“We are vulnerable to missing cases that could cause a lot of issues.
“Children in danger could easily be lost.”
Cllr Hart had said residents need the “service they deserve” but said budget pressures were “enormous”.
Council papers say the service faces a budget shortfall of £900,000 because public health grants have not kept pace with cost increases.
They detail: “Without service re-design and/ or further specific investment, the service would not be sustainable beyond 2025-26 and is currently running at a significant deficit.”