FROM October Thurrock Council – like top tier councils across the country – will be taking over responsibility for young children’s health.
Two years ago when primary care trusts were dissolved most Public Health responsibilities transferred to councils and on 1 October the 0- to 5-year-old will transfer too.
On Wednesday (9 September) the council’s cabinet discussed the move.
Cllr Barbara Rice, the portfolio holder for health, introduced the report and said: “I believe this addition to our Public Health contracts will go a long way to addressing some of the health inequalities that are quite stark in some of the wards in Thurrock.
“The percentage of children living in poverty in the Tilbury Riverside and St Chads is a staggering 41 per cent.”
She said: “The transfer of funds will give us opportunities to drill down into some of the ward statistics and carefully target services for children and young people to promote optimal health and wellbeing giving better health and life chances.
“The healthy child program aims to identify families in need of support and those at risk of poor health and wellbeing. There is an emphasis on increasing health visitor numbers and expanding and strengthening the workforce, training and services.”
And Cllr Bukky Okunade, cabinet member for children’s care, added: “At the moment, NHS England has directly contracted the North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT) to provide the 0-5 Healthy Child Programme, hence a seamless transition with no disruption to service delivery is expected.
“A review of the services is planned on transfer between October and December and I am pleased to say this will enable us an opportunity to consider linking the whole 0-19 public health children’s services and the wider health and social care deliveries such as Early Offer of Help and Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub.”
