School nurses may disappear due to a “cliff edge” in public health funding that will create future health problems for children, NHS leaders have warned.
There are currently 1,934 school nurses in England, the lowest on record, compared with more than 3,000 a decade ago.
Health chiefs say that they face having to further reduce children’s services because central funding to cover staff salaries is due to run out next month.
Community health services such as school nurses and sexual health clinics are funded via public health budgets managed by local authorities. But annual pay rises for the tens of thousands of NHS staff working in communities are covered through central government or NHS England budgets.
