Health and Nutrition
Legal status of health visitors must be restored, says union
Health visiting needs to be recognised in law as a profession to avoid more tragedies like the case of Baby P, says the health visitors' union Unite.
The union has launched a campaign for health visiting to be legally redefined and returned to statute law as it was up to 2001.
Health visiting as a profession was removed from the Nursing and Midwifery Order and from all other laws, including the Children Act 1989, nine years ago.
Unite is arguing that without this legal protection the profession has no legal standing and its title has no official meaning, putting the public more at risk.
Unite's lead professional officer Obi Amadi said, 'This campaign is not about legal complexities, but restoring the status of a 150-year-old profession, so that the public is protected and the important health visiting services to communities and families are restored.'
Unite says the legal change has also made it easier for primary care trusts to cut back on health visitors and employ less qualified staff. According to the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care, there has been a 13.5 per cent drop in health visitors in England in the past four years.
Obi Amadi said, 'You could have the bizarre situation of a TV presenter with no nursing qualification giving advice on bringing up babies and describing herself as a health visitor, and that is currently legally acceptable. However, she could not describe herself as a nurse, as that is legally defined.'
Unite will be lobbying the Government, nursing unions and the regulatory body the Nursing and Midwifery Council, following a promise by children's secretary Ed Balls at last year's Unite/CPHVA conference to consider returning health visiting to statute law.
Further information
The campaign statement is at www.unite-cphva.org
