HEALTH visitors are set to deal with caseloads at the extreme limit of national guidelines following changes to services for children in Cumbria from April.
Each professional working in the county could be responsible for around 300 babies and children each - the maximum number considered safe - as part of a shake up driven by cuts to Cumbria County Council's funding for public health.
But the authority's health bosses claim the new system of care for babies and young children will be safe because any complex cases will be dealt with by a separate team of trained professionals.
RELATED ARTICLE: Outrage as school nurses are axed across Cumbria in school nursing cuts
A spokesman for CCC said: "The proposals include the development of a strengthening families team, who would support Cumbria’s most vulnerable families.
"Specialist health visitors will be part of this team and have lower caseloads than health visitors providing universal support.
"Caseloads for health visitors providing universal support will increase, but this is deemed acceptable, because the numbers of vulnerable families they work with will decrease."
Individual health visitors in Cumbria currently deal with a caseload of around 250.
The recommended safe limit is 300, though professionals working within the authority could be loaded with more than this number during busy periods.
The cash starved authority has had £925,000 stripped from its public health funding for the year ahead and is now attempting to identify £50 million in additional savings before 2020.
Cumbria already receives one of the lowest public health allocations - £38 per person - compared to other areas around the country, with neighbouring Lancashire getting £59 per head for 2017/18 and Northumberland £52.
In a desperate bid to help balance Cumbria's books, CCC initially considered scrapping the standard health check provided to children aged two and a half - when a toddler's sight, hearing, coordination and development is assessed.
However, it will now continue to be offered after officials concluded its loss could increase the risk of missed opportunities of early intervention for children.
CCC's public health lead, Councillor Ian Stewart, said he had been given assurances that the caseload of health visitors was manageable.
"We've looked at the numbers of cases that people will usually have and we are very confident that they will not be beyond what is regarded as "safe".
"This is a re-design of our services that will see a better service being delivered, so that those children in Cumbria who are most in need or those in need of most will all have safer, healthier and happier lives."
The news comes just a week after headteachers across Barrow and Furness were advised that traditional school nurses are to be axed from April 1 and replaced with six 'school aged clinical health coordinators', based in Carlisle, who will signpost schools to available help.
Headteachers can choose to supplement this by using part of their education budget to 'buy back' frontline nursing services.
They received a menu of three options costing between £3,750 and £35,000 for consortiums of five schools, and have just ten days to decide which level of nursing support they would like to purchase.
READ MORE: Price tag on school nurses not affordable, headteachers claim
READ MORE: Moves backed to plug school budget deficit in Cumbria
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here