Released on: 13 August 2021
NCT, as part of the One Voice Partnership¹, has called on a county council to re-think plans to cut its public health budget.
The One Voice Partnership has written to Hampshire County Council (HCC) asking it to re-examine as a matter of urgency the impact its proposed budget cuts will have on pregnant women and babies.
“In our view, your proposals introduce unacceptable risks which will cause preventable harm and widen inequalities”, the letter states.
It continues: “The National Maternity Review (Better Births 2016) outlines a vision for maternity services across England to become safer… with improved transition of care from midwifery to health visiting. A reduction in the number of health visitors will hamper our collective efforts to achieve this vision.”
It is feared that what happens to the public health budget in Hampshire could set a precedent for other councils across the UK.
The One Voice letter to Hampshire County Council can be read in full here.
¹ The One Voice Partnership is a collaboration between NCT, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), Association of Anaesthetists and Sands (the stillbirth and neonatal death charity).
