England is facing the very real prospect of its first measles outbreak in decades.

A rise in cases across the country – with the majority in London – has led to warnings the capital could witness a spread of tens of thousands unless families bring their offspring forward for immunisation and fast.

Vaccination rates have now dropped to dangerous levels – they have been on a downward trend for a number of years - but I can't help but feel the health service only has itself to blame.

We now have the lowest rates of MMR uptake in over a decade. Some may argue the jab's historic (and unfounded) connection to autism may be an issue but since the pandemic, uptake rates for all routine childhood vaccinations have been falling nationwide, not just MMR.

Speaking when rates were already taking a turn, north London GP Dr Ellie Cannon suggested access to services was proving to be the biggest barrier.

She explained: “Although there’s an impression that anti-vaxxers or vaccine refusers are to blame, that’s not thought to be the main cause for the lack of uptake. It has more to do with ease of access.”

Many pockets of vulnerable people – from ethnic groups to those with chaotic or transient lifestyles - who among others are not being scooped up for treatment. Combined with a lack of appointments, difficulties finding a GP, and the requirement to get to clinics at certain times.

We all know how difficult it now is to get any access to healthcare. And if your job, lifestyle, beliefs, fears, language barrier or otherwise come into play I imagine it’s a losing battle.

Today, mothers are unlikely to see the same midwife – or even midwives – throughout their pregnancy and in the early days as a new parent. Health visitors are like gold dust while traditional regular baby clinics for weighing, feeding woes and minor medical worries, are few and far between.

It means new parents are immediately detached from the services designed to support them and the now fragmented way families can be cared for is making space for them to slip through nets and under radars.

Long gone are the days of relationship-based healthcare depicted in dramas like BBC’s Call the Midwife.

Where professionals know families, can allay fears, explain why things are necessary, important, life-saving even, and whose personal alarm bells will ring when appointments are missed or parents are a no-show.

I’m sure the argument is that a revolving door of staff is both cheaper and more efficient. And that the old-fashioned approach is costly and unworkable in this day and age and places too much pressure and responsibility on individual staff.

But care needs bringing back into communities. If not, the resurgence of measles will just be the first in a long line of outbreaks of childhood diseases we thought we’d seen the back of.

And I’m not sure how you put a price on preventing that.