Leicester City Council has launched a public consultation, seeking views on proposed changes to the 0-19 Healthy Child Programme. 

0-19 Healthy Child Programme consultation overview 

The 0-19 Healthy Child Programme (0-19HCP) (known locally as Healthy Together) looks after the health and wellbeing of all children in Leicester under the age of 19. It is delivered by Public Health Nurses (Health Visitors and School Nurses) and their teams across the city.    

Leicester City Council have commissioned Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) to deliver the 0-19HCP since 1 July 2017. Leicestershire City Council are proposing to keep Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust as the provider, as it is a high performing service, and to recommission 0-19HCP by using Section 75 of the National Health Services Act of 2006.   

The new contract would start from 1 October 2023 and run until 30 September 2030.  

Under this new contract most families and young people will see very little difference in the service that they receive. Cost savings of £200,000 will be achieved through different ways of working and using a wider range of highly skilled staff in the delivery of the service (known as a ‘skill-mix model’).    

Public Health Nurses (Health Visitors and School Nurses) will remain the main contact for children and their families and some support, where it is safe and appropriate to do so, will be delegated to other Healthy Together team members.    

Proposed changes include:  

  • Early Start (the intensive Public Health Nursing (Health Visiting) support programme) will stop and be replaced with support provided by local neighbourhood Public Health Nursing (Health Visiting) teams  
  • The contact made for babies aged 4-months will be for all families, signposting to online resource and support with face-to-face support offered for families who need it.   
  • Introduction of a new contact for children aged 3-3½ years, predominantly in a digital way with face-to-face support offered for families who need it.  
  • Expansion of the year 7, 9 and 11 Digital Health Contact into more schools in the city. 

These changes, along with the proposed use of a section 75, are the subject of the 12-week public consultation which runs until 9 April 2023. This consultation follows an extensive engagement exercise with parents and staff in 2022 and outlines some changes in response to the feedback received.  

Individuals and organisations can view and comment on the proposed changes and the use of Section 75 via the consultation website: https://consultations.leicester.gov.uk/sec/0-19