Union says 8,000 more health visitors are needed

Ahead of the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association (CPHVA) annual conference at Southport this week, union Unite said a huge recruitment drive is needed to bring the service up to scratch.

The conference is due to hear details of progress made on the Action on Health Visiting Programme, which was launched as a response to concerns about the health visiting profession raised in Lord Laming's review of child protection.

Unite national officer for health Karen Reay said there is now a need for an increase of 8,000 more health visitors over the next five years.

This is due to the increasing birth rate, falls in health visitor numbers, the age profile of the profession, and the need for health visitors to have responsibility for on average no more than 250 children, she added.

"Each primary care trust and strategic health authority must be held to account in producing plans for how they will deliver this total," Reay said.

"This will require many of them doubling or even tripling their existing health visitor workforce, such has been the scale of the cuts over the last five years."

Health Secretary Andy Burnham and Children's Secretary Ed Balls are both due to address the conference.

The Conservatives have already pledged to increase health visitor numbers by 4,200.

There are currently 8,764 full-time health visitor posts.