The current state of health visiting has attracted plenty of attention of late. Lord Laming's review of child protection called for the government to take immediate action to increase numbers, confidence and the quality of service in the profession.
This was followed by a House of Commons Health Committee report on health inequalities that expressed similar concerns. It found that Sure Start programmes led by health visiting teams were those most likely to succeed but cited dramatic falls in health visitor numbers and an ageing workforce as key concerns.
The latest available figures show there were a total of 9,056 health visitors in 2007 - around 10 per cent down on a decade ago.
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