Tories clarify health visitor plans
Ross Watson
Monday, March 1, 2010
The party's intention to tempt professionals back to practise has been met with considerable scepticism.
Qualified health visitors who have left the profession would be enticedback by a Conservative government in order to meet the party'slong-standing pledge to boost numbers.
The party first stated its intentions two years ago to increase healthvisitor numbers by 4,200.
Until now, details about how it would tackle the crippling shortage,other than shifting resources from Sure Start outreach workers, haveremained thin on the ground.
Shadow families minister Maria Miller has revealed to CYP Now the partywould encourage qualified health visitors back to the profession. Shesaid: "There are 16,000 health visitors qualified but not working in theprofession, so it is a big pool of people from which to draw."
The Conservatives would also try and attract qualified midwives to theprofession.
"Midwives who had looked at health visiting as a career have found itdifficult due to changes in registration,"
Miller added. To be a health visitor candidates have to first train as anurse or midwife and register with the Nursing & Midwifery Council.
But under the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, midwives wishing toremain on the register have to continue practising midwifery - making itdifficult to take up a health visiting position.
Miller said the party would look to review this.
Nursing and midwifery expert, Professor Sarah Cowley, praised Miller forchampioning health visitors but questioned her calculations, saying thenumber of professionals registered but not practising is actually around6,000.
According to Cowley, non-practising health visitors are likely to havemoved on to other careers and would view a return as a backwardstep.
Independent consultant and former health visitor, Margaret Buttigieg'said the Tory proposal is not a realistic long-term solution as manyqualified health visitors are nearing retirement.
Christine Bidmead, London's lead officer for the CommunityPractitioners' and Health Visitors' Association, said: "What we need isa radical revamp of the health visitor education system. By all meanstempt them back - but entry-level education is required for the longterm."
