Government to expand Family Nurse Partnership scheme

The Department of Health has announced plans to extend its Family Nurse Partnership programme, which offers support to disadvantaged new parents across the country.

By 2015, a total of 16,000 families will be able to access tailored help and support from specialist nurses, with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Impetus Trust and Social Research Unit at Darlington to lead the project.

The aim of the scheme is to help new mothers to give their children a better start in life by helping them to quit smoking and giving them advice on breastfeeding, while also improving their self-esteem and supporting their return to employment or education.

Health minister Dr Dan Poulter said: "Around 11,000 families are already benefiting from personalised support from family nurses, but I am determined that we should go further."

This comes as part of a wider drive to give children a healthier start in life by improving midwife care support, managing postnatal depression better and reducing childhood obesity.