Impact on infant and parental health

National

• In-person visits from health visitors stalled during lockdown - only 1 in 10 parents with children under 2 years had in-person visit, compared to 1 in 4 before lockdown. (Parent-Infant Foundation).
  
  
• Having COVID-19 while pregnant was a significant risk factor (50%) for women having complications during the pregnancy, and infants were almost three times more at risk of severe medical complications. (Nuffield Dept of Women’s & Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford, 2021).

Staffordshire

• Significantly more mothers expected to have had virtual appointments with health visitors, meaning opportunities for support may have been missed.
  
  
• Local efforts ensured two thirds received in person antenatal contact with a Health Visitor at 28 weeks, and new birth visits also increased (83%, 2020/21).
  
  
• Potential widening of health outcomes for deprived mothers and infants. Pre-pandemic 50% of infant deaths came from the most deprived 28% of Staffordshire.