£200 million to continue provide baby health visits
Hampshire County Council has approved plans to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to continue providing vital baby health visiting and school nursing services across the county.
The £200 million contract, which will run for seven years, is designed to support families across all communities, especially those who are most vulnerable. The money will fund the county’s public health nursing service, which delivers support from pregnancy through to early adulthood.
Health visiting services form a central part of the programme, offering guidance and practical help to families with babies and young children from pregnancy up to the age of five. This includes the Family Nurse Partnership, which provides intensive support to young parents, particularly those aged under 16.
Alongside this, the service also covers school nursing, supporting children and young people from the age of five to 19.
The service is available to all families in Hampshire. Currently, there are 69,173 babies and children aged zero to four, and 309,231 children and young people aged five to 18 living in the county who may benefit from the support.
Provision is universal across Hampshire and is delivered mainly through home visits, community settings and schools. A key aim of the service is to deliver the Healthy Child Programme, while also reducing health inequalities by targeting additional help at those vulnerable families.
Hampshire County Council’s principal public health officer, Joanna Lockhart, said the investment would save money in the long run by addressing problems early.
She said: “Whilst that sounds like a lot of money, it provides a really good value for money service.
“The aim is to prevent and identify those needs at the early opportunity and prevent those needs from escalating further, where the cost could be grater.”
Council papers note that the contract may be affected the Local Government Reorganisation, which could lead to changes in the size, scope or legal structure of the agreement during its lifetime.
The spending was approved on January 20 by the cabinet member for health and wellbeing, Cllr Stephen Reid. Funding will come from the ring-fenced Public Health Grant, with the new service due to run from April 2027 until March 2034.