Unite’s national officer for health, Karen Reay, has revealed that members working for North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) have been told the changes will take effect in September.
According to the union, the PCT will tell health visitors to take over the health of thousands of school children in Northallerton, Richmond, Ryedale, Selby, Scarborough, Thirsk and Whitby.
Unite, which embraces the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association, said that a series of cuts by the PCT and increasing caseloads have seen the number of health visitors drop from 200 in 2005 to 133.
In addition, there are currently only 8.33 school nurses for the whole of the trust area, which has the third largest population of any PCT in England, despite government guidance recommending a nurse for every secondary school and every cluster of primary schools.
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