Government Promise of More Health Visitors to be Discussed at ‘Summit’

LONDON - 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. Our 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.’

Source: Unite the Union

Contact: Shaun Noble, +44(0)7768-693-940