CORNISH parents face the possibility of having to pay for health visitors to carry out check-ups on their babies and children.

Children’s services in Cornwall are at breaking point, according to general union Unite, which spoke out in advance of a council meeting today that is to decide whether to keep the services in-house or outsource them.

Unite says one of the options on the table is to establish a company separate from Cornwall Council to provide services and with the potential to make profits from hard-pressed parents.

Means-testing is also an option, with parents charged according to their income.

Unite Cornwall regional officer Deborah Hopkins said: “We are at a crossroads in Cornwall as to how we look after and care for babies and young children.

“The prospect of means-testing for such children’s services, including visits by health visitors, will be an anathema to the vast majority of Cornish people.

“One of the founding principles of the NHS in 1948 is that health services should be free at the point of delivery for all those in need.”

She said the proposals before the council “are throwing these principles out the window.”

“We need to have the widest public consultation possible and keep our children’s services in the hands of the taxpaying public and not outsourced to a profit-hungry company.”

The crisis in children’s services follows a recent story of a homeless 17-year-old boy who was bought a tent to live in for five weeks after he asked Cornwall Council for housing help.

Ms Hopkins said: “Cornwall, so reliant on the seasonal tourist trade, is reportedly the second-poorest region in northern Europe, so I am not sure where councillors would expect hard-pressed parents to find the cash to pay for a visit from a health visitor.

“Increasingly, Cornwall Council is relying on private companies to provide services. We believe that the council should jettison these flawed and misguided proposals — our children deserve so much better.”

Cornwall Council had “copious” reserves of cash, she added.

The council was unable to provide a comment by the time the Star went to press.