Government promise of more health visitors to be discussed at
‘summit’
13th March 2009
The government’s promise to ‘substantially increase’ health
visitor numbers in the wake of the Laming review into child
protection in England has been welcomed by Unite, the largest union
in the country.
Health secretary Alan Johnson has announced a Programme of
Action on Health Visiting which will be led by the Department of
Health jointly with Unite/Community Practitioners’ and Health
Visitors’ Association (CPHVA). This is designed to reverse the
current decline in the profession.
A ‘summit’, expected to be held in May, between the government,
Unite/CPHVA, and other interested organisations will thrash out the
mechanics of how this will be achieved. It will look at numbers
needed, retention of the existing workforce and the restoration of
budgets by the strategic health authorities to train the next
generation of health visitors.
Unite lead professional officer for strategy and practice
development, Cheryll Adams, said today (Friday, 13 March): "We are
delighted that health visitors have secured such strong support
from the chief nurse and ministers, and the commitment to working
in partnership with Unite/CPHVA to make this happen will reassure
our health visitor membership.
"The real challenge will be at primary care trust (PCT) level
where the cuts have been decided and budgets must now be
reconsidered.
"It is important that we put the flesh on the bones of this new
policy quickly. This is made even more urgent by yesterday’s
findings of the Laming review. Health visitors are the
professionals in the forefront of assessing health needs in every
family with pre-school children, and ensuring that those requiring
extra help get it promptly."
Unite has already called for the employment of 4,000 more health
visitors, but realises that this figure may be a mid-to-longer term
goal, because of the time required to train new recruits.
Unite's goal is to work with government to restore a robust health
visiting service by the time the profession celebrates its 150th
birthday in 2012.
In a statement from the Department for Children, Schools and
Families, Alan Johnson said the programme for action will ensure
that ‘the role of health visitors is properly defined: that they
are supported in their vital work; that career opportunities are
enhanced and numbers of health visitors are increased
substantially’.
ENDS
NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:
For further information, please ring: Cheryll Adams, lead
professional officer, strategy & practice development 07712 678
281l Obi Amadi, lead professional officer, policy & external
affairs 07780 955 936; Karen Reay, national officer, health 07798
531 004 or Shaun Noble, communications officer (health sector) 020
7420 8951 or 07768 693 940
Email to a friend
Want to share this story? These sites allow you to tag and share links across the internet enabling you to share these links with friends and people with similar interests. You can also access your links from any computer you happen to be using.
