30th April 2013
A joint letter from the Department of Health (Viv Bennett), NHS England (Jane Cummings), Health Education England (Lisa Bayliss-Pratt) and the Chair of the Health Visiting Taskforce (Liz Fradd) has been published in the Nursing Standard to refute suggestions in that journal that the number of new recruits into health visiting is falling short of the government’s target. Latest figures for January 2013 show there are 9,069 full time equivalent (FTE) health visitors – an increase of 977 (12 per cent) since May 2010 and there are an estimated 2400 students in training in the current academic year, compared to only 391 in 2006-07, which marked the lowest point for numbers in training. Responsibility for commissioning children’s public health services (from pregnancy to age 5) lies with NHS England (formerly known as the NHS Commissioning Board) until 2015, when it is expected to transfer to local authorities.”
