16th August 2016
The iHV is proud to sign a letter to The Times calling on the Government to secure funding for health visiting services – The nation’s health is at stake.
The letter from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) calls on the Government to halt health visitor cuts, in order to prevent further deterioration of the nation’s health.
Five years since the launch of the Government’s Health Visitor Implementation Plan, which invested significant funds in training more that 4,000 new health visitors, posts are now being cut throughout England.
According to the latest workforce figures, the number of health visitors in England has been falling since the start of 2016, with a significant drop of 433 posts between March and April alone. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this drop is just the start of a significant reduction in the number of these crucial services, due to cuts in Local Authority budgets.
The RCN letter to The Times, signed by major health organisations including the RCPCH, the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI), the National Children’s Bureau and the iHV, calls for health visitor funding to be protected to secure remaining services and their major contribution to public health.
The letter aims to illustrate the crucial value of health visiting and the detrimental consequences cutting these services could have for children and families.
The letter’s publication corresponds to today’s RCN round-table event to collectively look at how to minimise the public health cuts.
