The Department of Health has released its annual publication, 'Healthy Child, Healthy Future - Health Review Statistics for Northern Ireland 2024/25', detailing the coverage and timeliness of pre-school health contacts delivered under the 'Healthy Child, Healthy Future' framework.

This framework outlines the programme of essential child health reviews every family across the region can expect.

The published figures track the completion of six key pre-school health contacts: the New Baby Review (10-14 days after birth); the 6-8 Week Review; the 14-16 Week Review; the 6-9 Month Contact; the Health Review at 1 Year; and the 2 – 2 ½ Year Health Review.

During the 2024/25 reporting period, Health Visitors were expected to have carried out a total of 119,027 of these health reviews for children across Northern Ireland. The publication noted a high rate of timely completion:

• 103,878 of these reviews, equating to 87%, were completed within the officially recommended time frame (contact on time).

• An additional 9,956 reviews (8%) were completed but fell outside the recommended window, being classified as either early or late (contact early or late).

• Crucially, the statistics show that 4% of the expected total number of reviews did not take place during the reporting year.

The report, which derives its data from the Child Health System extractions provided by the HSC Trusts, does not capture information regarding why reviews were completed outside the recommended timeframe or why the 4% of expected reviews did not take place. However, the Department stated that where specific issues are known, these will be documented within the publication.