Published: 31 October 2007
4,000 More to Support most Vulnerable Families
A total of 4,000 more full-time health visitors in England would be needed to meet the government’s goal of intensive support for the most vulnerable families.
The call comes from Unite/Community’s Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association in its response to the Department of Health’s review of health visiting, Facing the future which was published in the summer and about which Unite/CPHVA has consulted extensively with its members.
Ministers have been advised that a robust universal health visiting service for all families, including home visits, needs to be restored nationally to avoid the current postcode lottery, whilst maintaining an emphasis on the most vulnerable families if policy goals are to be achieved.
Delegates are attending the Unite/CPHVA’s annual professional conference in Torquay (31 October -2 November) against a backdrop of mixed messages.
At the recent Labour party conference, Health Secretary Alan Johnson promised more health visitors and specialist nurses to tackle public health issues, but in the spring the latest NHS workforce statistics revealed that a full-time health visitor job was being lost each day.
In a recent Unite/CPHVA survey, 77% of health visitors in England said their workload had increased in the past year and 54% that it was no-longer possible to offer all scheduled (universal) contacts.
32% said they were unable to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable families.
Unite/CPHVA estimate that an additional 4,000 full-time health visitors would be needed for the 120,000 families in England requiring intensive support, if the current family-nurse pilots go nationwide.
Unite/CPHVA is also calling for a maximum case load of 300 families per health visitor.
Recent research by the respected Family & Parenting Institute revealed that some health visitors are grappling with caseloads of more than 1,000 children under the age of five.
Unite/CPHVA Acting Lead Professional Officer, Cheryll Adams said:
“Our response is specifically calibrated to meet the government’s reinvigorated family-friendly polices.
To employ 4,000 more health visitors is a drop in the ocean taken in the context of an annual NHS budget of more than £100bn – but the results in terms of the public health of the next generation and reduced costs for secondary care services, such as mental health, could be spectacular.
If this investment is made the government will be acknowledging that by investing in preventative services there is benefit to the NHS care budget”.
Further information
Facing the Future: A review of the role of Health Visitors
CPHVA response
Annual conference
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