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• Unite welcomes decision to abandon Cheltenham & Gloucester branch closures, but is angry over poor management
• London health visiting crisis exposed by Unite
• Leeds blood service cuts ‘threaten’ patient care
• New education course dates now available for August-December 2009
• Unite expresses anger at silence over the future of the Bank of Scotland in Ireland
• 20,000 Plymouth people say no to bus sell-off

London health visiting crisis exposed by Unite

20th August 2009

The true scale of the health visiting crisis in London has been exposed in the September issue of Unite’s Community Practitioner journal.

The research shows that the situation in a number of primary care trusts (PCTs) in London is getting worse, as the number of new health visitor registrations nationally has slumped from 712 in 2005 to 253 in 2008.

Unite, which embraces the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association, has written to NHS London’s chief nurse Trish Morris Thompson to discuss Lord Laming’s report published in March which said that more health visitors need to be employed to prevent child abuse.

The journal highlights crisis areas in the capital:

• Staff employed by NHS Hounslow say the lack of qualified health visitors means that many families with new babies are being seen up to four months after the birth – instead of the recommended 10-14 days for new birth visits
• Barking and Dagenham Community Health Services has failed to deliver on promises made to Unite last December  to recruit 22 specialist community public health nurses (SCPHNs) and train nine student health visitors
• NHS Richmond has confirmed that non-health visiting staff are conducting new birth assessments
• At NHS Haringey - at the centre of the storm over the death of Baby P - there are only 34 whole time equivalent (WTE) health visitors, when Unite believes the figure should be between 45-60 in this ‘complex inner-city borough with a culture of gang and knife crime’
• NHS Lambeth has been ranked the worst PCT in England by the influential Family and Parenting Institute, with only 33 WTE health visitors; each having an estimated caseload of 894 children under the age of five
• Staff shortages are also reported at NHS Havering where nursery nurses will be running a group contact for one year-olds, and also in Barnet Community Services
• NHS Enfield - health visitors are ‘demoralised’, as caseloads are getting bigger and health visitors are leaving
• In deprived Leyton and Leytonstone, covered by NHS Waltham Forest, a recruitment drive for health visitors failed, as the shortage of health visitors nationally means staff can easily choose to work in other locations.  

Unite professional officer, Dave Munday, told Community Practitioner: "Health visiting is at crisis point – managers are training less, and 20% of the workforce could retire tomorrow and trusts cannot recruit.
 
"This is simply because they ignored our previous warnings three or four years ago that they should concentrate on investing in health visitor training. Trusts have created these problems and the outlook is set to get worse unless urgent action is taken now.

"Every single training place must be filled by September (2009) to benefit in the long-term. Members have not reported any positive changes, despite a number of recruitment strategies."

ENDS
 
NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:

For further information, please ring: Karen Reay, national officer, health  07798 531 004;
Obi Amadi, lead professional officer, policy & external affairs 07780 955 936, Cheryll Adams, lead professional officer, strategy & practice development 07712 678 281 or Shaun Noble, communications officer (health sector) 020 7420 8951 or 07768 693 940