North Yorkshire health visitors set to take on the work of school nurses

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.

"The fact that there are only 8.33 full-time equivalent school nurses for such a large area is shameful. The model North Yorkshire and York PCT has now devised is financially driven and not in the best interests of families," said Reay. "The health visitors have been campaigning for a considerable time against the imposition of these changes, but their legitimate concerns have not been listened to by the trust."

Jo Harding, general manager of children and specialist services at North Yorkshire and York Community and Mental Health Services, confirmed the changes are going ahead. But she claimed the new arrangements will see resources for health visiting and school nursing, of which 75 per cent had previously been invested in health visitors dealing with children aged from birth to five, shared more equally to meet the needs of children and young people aged from birth to 19.

"We have consulted extensively with health visitors, school nurses and union representatives regarding these changes," she added. "There is a training package being developed to support this."