BELFAST Trust has been forced to cancel child developmental reviews due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Health Visiting Service, which carries out assessments of babies at key age milestones, has written to parents to inform them that it is "unable to complete" their child's developmental review.
Reviews are normally carried out to assess baby health, weight, and development, as well as to determine if parents are healthy and/or require any support.
It is understood that the cancellation impacts parents with one-year-old children. The service is working through a backlog of routine health visits for children in the 6-9 month age bracket.
In a letter to parents, the Trust said the cancellation comes due to "the ongoing recovery of our Health Visiting service". The Health Visiting Service is among a number of HSC departments that have had staff redeployed to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Susan McCrory, from the Falls Womens' Centre, described the cancellations as "worrying".
"Whilst we are aware of the backlog and pressure the Covid pandemic has had on our health service, we believe children are missing out on their development assessments in particular children who may not be reaching their milestones and losing out on additional help and support," she said.
"This is a worrying situation especially for single parents, young mothers and children who have been born over the pandemic time. Our government needs to recognise the shortage of health staff throughout our whole health service and make investment a priority to secure the future of our children.
"We would like to state that childcare is paramount to children’s development and major investment is needed within the community childcare sector."
The Andersonstown News has contacted Belfast Trust and is awaiting a response.
