Our continuing investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on public health has highlighted troubling effects for children in the UK. A significant portion of this damage is a result of the redeployment of health visitors. Alison Morton, an advocate for children’s welfare, testified that children experienced “hugely and in some cases irretrievably damaged” outcomes as a result of indirect consequences stemming from the pandemic response.
Nationally, children make up only about 25% of the population, but they only get about 11% of our National Health Service (NHS) budget. Throughout the investigation, specialists focused on racial inequity in the health care system. They highlighted how it seriously lacked in addressing children’s needs during the pandemic and moving forward. As the late Professor Steve Turner wrote, society is deeply unequal to children. He reiterated that their well-being has taken a backseat more broadly throughout the crisis.
The focus of the inquiry highlighted a disturbing pattern. Waiting lists for children’s health services increased at twice the rate of those for adults over the recovery period. This disturbing trend is a reminder of the increasing disinvestment in the lives of young people, as dollars moved to support adult care.
Back in March 2020, at the outset of the pandemic, almost two-thirds of health trusts in England preemptively banned them. They redeployed health visitors to cover those other essential roles. In fact, some health visitors even reported caseloads of over 750 children – well over three times the recommended limit of 250. When Duncan Burton, the Chief Nursing Officer for England saw a big problem. He noted that Americans are likely to think of kids’ procedures as less essential than adult treatment — including for pediatric cancer care.
In October 2020 Burton wrote to health trusts instructing them to stop redeploying health visitors. This decision was made only after it was clear children were unnecessarily suffering because of a failure to provide the support needed. Another such redeployment was avoided only after, in Burton’s words, a “mighty intervention” in December, 2020.
“For me, it was the most sad part of the pandemic, how we let those children down.” – Alison Morton
Morton emphasized that the consequences of these decisions had “life-changing and life-ending consequences” for many children. She referred to them as “the coalmine’s canary.” She called on the world to center their needs and raise their voices, even post-mortem.
The investigation highlighted the tragic cases of children such as Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. These once innocent children were killed by their so-called protectors during the pandemic. However, these high-profile cases shone a light on more systemic failings across child protection services. Morton warned that dozens more equally vulnerable children met the same fate without making national headlines.
“They are not treated equally in our society and became a lower priority in the pandemic and in the recovery period.” – Prof Steve Turner
As Professor Turner emphasized, children are one of the most significant portions of our population. In truth, they get a tiny fraction of the funding from the NHS that their contributions merit. He underlined that this inequality has existed for decades. This need became all the more acute during the unique challenges created by COVID-19.
As our post-COVID change champion Duncan Burton shared, the pandemic exposed and worsened lapses in child safeguarding practices. He noted that staff at testing centers received training on recognizing signs of abuse and neglect, highlighting an effort to protect vulnerable children despite overarching systemic issues.
“They are 25% of the population and get 11% of the NHS spend.” – Prof Steve Turner
This key inquiry will now be collecting evidence over the next two weeks. It’ll be hearing from former government officials who helped lead past pandemic responses. The testimonies aim to provide further context on how decisions made during this unprecedented time affected children’s health and welfare.
