Published: 01 April 2008
NICE work for Health Visitors
Further reinforcement for a universal health visiting service has come from the respected National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
The new support for health visiting has come in NICE’s guidance on Improving the nutrition of pregnant and breasting mothers and children in low income households which has been welcomed by Unite/Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association.
Unite/CPHVA Professional Officer, Dave Munday said:
“The crisis facing health visiting in terms of staff cuts and frozen posts is now very high on the political agenda. The value that health visiting brings to the public health agenda has found further confirmation in the latest guidance from NICE.
The guidance said: ‘It is important that universal services (for example, home visiting by health visitors and midwives) are available for all families with infants and young children.
Health visitors should be proactive and visit all mothers, parents and carers of infants and pre-school children at home (where possible) to assess the needs”.
Dave Munday continued:
“This is as clear an endorsement as you can get about the need for a universal – not a patchwork – health visiting service, which can give vital support to mothers and children in those vital early stages of development. The need for more trained health visitors is paramount”.
Further information
Related articles
To find a business you can trust, click on the related categories below: