HEALTH visitors could start routine checks on three to three-and-a-half year old children in York in a bid to tackle a gap in school achievement by children in the city.

Public health bosses at City of York Council say they have a long-term aspiration to bring in the new checks - but admit they first need to get York’s record on earlier legally required health checks up to national standards.

The most recent figures show that in York, 62.1 per cent of children get a health visitor check at two to two-and-half years old - and although the numbers have been rising they still fall short of the English average at 75.6 per cent.

The city also falls behind national rates on 12 months checks - although the gaps are much smaller on checks for new babies, and six to eight-week-olds.

Local councils took responsibility for public health - including health visitors - in 2013, and in April 2016 York ended a contract with the NHS to bring the service "in house".

Figures show that since the April 2016, the proportion of York children getting the two to two-and-half year check has risen from 22.4 per cent to 62.1 per cent at the end of 2017.

Public health chief Sharon Stoltz said a push to improve “school readiness” was behind the plan for three-year-old check-ups.

Last year, the city’s “attainment gap” faced a set-back with the levels that children from deprived backgrounds achieve in school falling further behind other pupils. Making sure children are ready for school is part of tackling that early on, Ms Stoltz added.

She said the check-ups would be targeted at children and families where staff had already noticed problems, and would mean families could be offered help or advice on things like language development and toilet training before the child goes to school.

“There’s a big gap between two-and-a-half and five, when you start school.

“Early intervention would hopefully mean we have children entering school without those delays.”

Many children will already see health visitors at three years old, she added, but this proposal could mean it becomes a more regulated and structured procedure where families get help before their children get to school.

However, Ms Stoltz and the head of early help at the council Niall McVicar, said they needed to improve performance on the earlier legally required checks before launching a new one.

Mr McVicar said managers in the Healthy Child Service were already working on an action plan to improve the figures - and were looking at how other councils run the service.

“We are looking at other areas and how they engage with families, where the checks take place, and what they count as checks,” he added.

They are also talking to childcare providers to see how they could work together on making sure families who get free childcare for two year olds - up to 40 per cent in York - get the two-year-old health checks.