Published: 29 January 2007
Cutting Healthcare in Kent
The cuts to the health visiting service in West Kent could have ‘a major impact’ on the welfare of families, says Amicus/CPHVA, the professional body representing the UK’s health visitors.
Amicus/The Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association (CPHVA) deplored last Thursday’s decision by West Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT) to axe 10 out of the 57 health visiting posts.
As many of the health visitors are part-time, this could mean the loss of some 15 health visitors. Originally, 15 whole-time equivalent jobs were set to go.
Amicus Health Lead Professional Officer, Obi Amadi said:
“’Universal access will mean that there will be fewer places and times when families will be able to see a health visitor which is not the same as ‘universal delivery’ where a mother has a visit after ten days from a health visitor, and there is an assessment by the health visitor, as to the level of support required in the future.
The service should be client led (i.e. ‘universal delivery’) - what the family requires, not what PCT managers want for their financial ‘bottom line’ (i.e. ‘universal access’).
It could have a major impact on the welfare of families.
There will be a diminution in service – let there be no doubt about this - especially as the number of health visitor posts will be cut.
We will be closely monitoring the situation to see what ‘universal access’ actually means on a daily basis for the families of West Kent.
The onus for the success of this new so-called ‘universal access’ service will fall very much on the PCT’s Directors of Public Health, and Nursing”.
Sarah Carpenter, the Amicus Health Co-ordinator for the South East said:
“The public support for this campaign has been magnificent – from the public, local councillors, MPs and the media.
The decision is disappointing, but we will continue to campaign to reverse these cuts, so that the government’s public health agenda can be fully implemented”.
More than 2,000 West Kent residents signed a petition to save the health visiting service from swingeing cuts by the PCT.
Meanwhile, in another Trust, staff are being urged ‘to work a day for no pay’ to save top managers’ blushes over the trust’s parlous finances.
Employees at the Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust are being asked to work a day for free, take a six-month career break or think about voluntary redundancy in a bid to balance the books before the end of the financial year in April.
Amicus, whose members at the trust include the pathology and estates’ departments, said its union reps were not consulted on the unilateral move by the new Human Resources director, Terry Coode.
Amicus is angry that these proposals are intended to contribute to the trust’s Private Finance Initiative when it is well documented that PFI projects have been proven to be poor value for money, despite the millions spent on each one.
Amicus Head of Health, Kevin Coyne said:
“We are staggered by the trust’s action as it drives coach-and-horses through all the pay and consultation agreements in the book.
Staff should not be pressured in this way to make sacrifices, even if it is not compulsory, especially for a PFI project.
I hope that the Chief Executive Rose Gibb and her coterie of top executives have offered to lead by example.
Our members at the trust are really insulted by this move as they already clock up a huge amount of unpaid overtime.
This is something they do in the best traditions of the NHS – showing goodwill and commitment. Now they are thinking of invoicing the trust for their backlog of work.
It is not helpful that this trust has returned to the Stone Age in terms of staff consultation and working in partnership.
We don’t agree that staff should be made to made pay – quite literally – for the financial incompetence at the senior management level”.
Further information
CPHVA website
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