SNP Effect: Twice as many health visitors, half the stillbirths

From a Labour Party freedom of information request, reported in the Guardian today:

Health visitors look after health and development from birth until the age of five. Last year, there were 6,931 full-time equivalent health visitors in England, a drop of 3,378 since the peak of 10,309 in October 2015, figures from Labour showed.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/oct/04/fears-for-mothers-and-babies-covid-19-health-visitor-crisis-mental-health-breastfeeding-england

From NHS Scotland in 2019 (latest figures):

At 31 March 2019 the headcount of qualified health visitors was 1,865, 7.4% higher than a year previously. The WTE of these staff had also increased by 7.0% in this period to 1,623.8. Based on the aforementioned estimates, this represents an increase of between 509.1 and 575.9 WTE since 31 March 2014.

Click to access 2019-06-04-Workforce-Report.pdf

England has ten times the population but only 4 times the health visitor staffing (6 931 divided by 1 623) so Scotland has more than twice as many per head of population.

Stillbirths are also twice as common in England as in Scotland:

https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/09/30/stillbirths-55-more-common-in-england-and-wales-than-in-scotland/

6 thoughts on “SNP Effect: Twice as many health visitors, half the stillbirths”

    1. When the BBC’s Scottish outlets report the damage being rot on Scotland’s NHS due to Brexit, we’ll be independent the next day.

      Like

      Reply

  2. Having three new babies and a paediatrician in our close (8 flats) I am pretty confident in the efficacy of the maternity services in our area.

    Like

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Baby scare story! – Talking-up Scotland
  4. Pingback: Despite shared Tory austerity, why does Scotland has far lower maternal death ratio? – Reporting Scotland Up (Talking-up Scotland)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.