New GP Survey Shows 'Chickens Coming Home To Roost' In Health Visiting Crisis, UK

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Public Health;  Nursing / Midwifery;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 02 Feb 2009 - 5:00 PST

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The health visiting crisis has been further highlighted by new research revealing that more than 70% of GP practices are experiencing increased demands for postnatal care - the traditional role of health visitors.

Unite, the largest union in the country, said that it predicted four years ago the increased demand on GPs caused by the health visiting cutbacks.

Unite, which embraces that the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association (CPHVA), said that 'the chickens are coming home to roost'; as the latest NHS workforce statistics revealed that a full-time health visitor job was being lost every 27 hours.

The survey, carried out by Independent Nurse magazine, showed that 71% of 474 GPs who replied had seen an increase in young mothers seeking help with problems, such as postnatal depression, sleep disorders and feeding problems.

Some GPs said they felt ill-qualified to offer young mothers advice and others warned they could not fill the health visitors' child protection role.

The new findings dovetail with Unite/CPHVA's own research last year which showed that more than 40% of health visitors reported that communication with their clients' GPs had become harder in the previous two years

Cheryll Adams, Unite Lead Professional Officer, Strategy & Practice Development, said: 'We welcome the new GP findings in as much that it gives further evidence to our campaign to restore the UK's health visiting service for the benefit of families and communities.'

'We are unsurprised by the effects of health visitor cuts on GP workloads with young families, as this was predicted four years ago when the serious cuts started.'

'Health visitors also started to be moved out of GP surgeries to work in neighbourhood-based teams. This trend has made the vital communication between doctors and health visitors more difficult.'

Unite is the largest union in the UK. It has seven professional sections: the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association, the Mental Health Nurses Association, the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, the Society of Sexual Health Advisers, the Medical Practitioners' Union, College of Healthcare Chaplains, and the Hospital Physicists Association.

Unite was formed by an amalgamation of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union in May 2007.

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