Sure Start programme saved the NHS millions of pounds, study finds

[Northerner]

Sure Start children’s centres delivered major health benefits for youngsters in the most deprived areas, reducing the number of people taken to hospital and delivering millions of pounds in savings to the NHS, a study has found.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies research found that where Sure Start offered high levels of service in poor neighbourhoods in England, visits to hospital to treat injuries fell among all children of primary school age, and by a third of all 11-year-olds.

The study questioned the current cuts to children’s centre budgets – reduced by two-thirds nationally between 2011 and 2017 – and urged the government to acknowledge Sure Start’s “big positive effect on children’s health” in future public spending plans.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/04/sure-start-saved-nhs-millions

 

[mikeyB]

Funnily enough, that was one of the previous Labour government’s flagship successes. The reduction from 2011 to 2017 shows how politics can hurt. And it’s nothing to do with austerity, there’s always money available for stuff that works and benefits kids, instead of paying for deadly weapons of war. It’s a question of priorities.

Any fool can see its benefits, and it’s to the eternal shame of the current government to allow it to wilt on the vine.