Suffolk County Council's cabinet will decide today, Tuesday 10 November, whether to approve a revised shake-up of children's health services in the county, after a public consultation drew 1,928 responses.

The cabinet meets at 2.30pm in Ipswich to consider the revised Healthy Child Service proposals. Under the plans, community staff nurses would stay in the service, alongside more health visitors, after their proposed removal became the biggest concern raised in the consultation, which also attracted more than 1,500 detailed comments.

Cabinet will be asked to approve up to £1.4 million a year of additional core funding, alongside a further £3.7 million a year from the ring-fenced Public Health Grant, to support the revised model.

What the revised plan would change

Families with children under five would continue to receive all five universal health and development reviews. Health visitors would carry out the first three reviews, to strengthen specialist oversight during pregnancy and the earliest months of a child's life.

But the Family Nurse Partnership, which gives intensive support to first-time mothers aged 21 and under, and the less intensive Young Parents Pathway for parents aged 20 and under, would end as separate programmes. School nursing would move to a more targeted, term-time model.

The council says the current service is financially unsustainable, with costs set to reach £18.6 million by 2029. If the cabinet approves the proposals, the new model would go live in July 2027, after further work with the staff who deliver it and trade unions, and a separate staff consultation early next year.

Nurses protested outside county hall

Nurses and MPs protested outside the council's headquarters in Ipswich on 6 November, backed by the unions Unison, the Royal College of Nursing and Unite. Kirstie Gladwell, who has worked in the Family Nurse Partnership team for 10 years, was among those at the protest. Under the proposals, she and the five other family nurses in the service would lose their jobs.

Councillor June Mummery, the cabinet member for coastal affairs, communities and public health, said the council had listened to feedback. "People spoke and we listened," she said, adding that keeping community staff nurses, alongside extra health visitors, would create a stronger health visiting service for Suffolk families.

Critics say questions remain. The Suffolk Conservative group says the cabinet papers commit to retaining some community staff nurse posts without specifying the exact number, and it has called on the administration to clarify how many will remain and how the posts will be funded beyond 2027/28. Labour MP Jess Asato has accused the council of a "sleight of hand", saying it talks of expanding services while cutting some nurse roles.

The cabinet's decision today will settle whether the revised model goes ahead, but the detailed staffing arrangements will only be worked through after the decision, in consultation with staff.