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Seòmar agus comataidhean

Question reference: S6W-04233

  • Date lodged: 8 November 2021 Registered interest
  • Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 November 2021

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of babies received their 6-8 week review on time in each year since 2019.


Answer

Public Health Scotland collect and publish data on the coverage of health visitor 6-8 week reviews pertaining to each financial year. In 2019-20, of children who became eligible for their 6-8 week review, coverage was 91.4% and in 2020-21 coverage was 91.8%.

Information for 2019/20 is available on the Public Health Scotland website in their Annual Report on Child Health Pre-School Review Coverage - https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-health-pre-school-review-coverage/child-health-pre-school-review-coverage-2019-to-2020/ .

The Annual Report on Child Health Pre-School Review Coverage for 2020-21 is not yet published but updated statistics on 6-8 week coverage can be calculated using data published alongside the Public Health Scotland Infant Feeding Statistics - https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/infant-feeding-statistics/infant-feeding-statistics-financial-year-2020-to-2021/ . It should be noted that health visiting data from previous years are updated within each annual infant feeding publication, and can change slightly from earlier publications due to increased data completeness. This is mainly due to late submission of data rather than reviews being carried out very late.

Data up to and including August 2021 are available on the Public Health Scotland (PHS) wider impacts dashboard - https://scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-covid-wider-impact/ .

Public Health Scotland data does not show exactly when each review took place, only that an eligible child received the review. It is therefore not possible to say how many reviews took place between the first 6-8 weeks of a baby’s life. In determining the extent of coverage for the first visit, Public Health Scotland will calculate the percentage of eligible children who received the review by the time the data is extracted. Further detail on how coverage is calculated can be found within relevant Public Health Scotland publications.