{"id":11525,"date":"2017-02-21T17:38:25","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T17:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11525"},"modified":"2017-02-21T17:38:25","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T17:38:25","slug":"no-backsliding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11525","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098No backsliding\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There can be \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no backsliding\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 on the number of visits that babies and young children in England can expect from their health visitor, Unite warned today (Tuesday February 21).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Community Practitioners\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and Health Visitors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Association (CPHVA) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c part of Unite \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is calling for the current requirement for five health visitor \u00e2\u20ac\u0098mandated\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 visits, to be renewed by the end of next month, to continue; with an extra – and sixth – visit when the baby is about three-to-four months old.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is expected that the public health minister Nicola Blackwood will be making an announcement on \u00e2\u20ac\u0098mandating\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 this week.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concern is underlined by the fact health visiting budgets now come under cash-strapped local authorities. The public health budgets are, in theory, ring-fenced, but what constitutes \u00e2\u20ac\u0098public health\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is open to interpretation.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite lead professional officer Obi Amadi said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere can be no compromise on the health of new born babies and young children \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and there should be no backsliding by ministers on the number of mandated visits.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite contrasted the English figure with Scotland, where they have eleven such visits. Wales has also five in its healthy child Wales programme. In Northern Ireland, there was a merger of health and local authority functions many years ago and it does not face the same financial pressures as England.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obi Amadi added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe mandate system has been used to help monitor and maintain service delivery. Collection of this information could cease at the end of March 2017, unless parliamentary action is taken.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe regulations state that there is a review of its effectiveness. This took place last summer and a report with recommendations has been on the minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s desk since the autumn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Challenged<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe transfer of health visiting services to financially challenged local authorities in October 2015 has had a significant adverse impact on services which have been cut in many areas leaving families, uncertain and worried.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite says, at the very least, five mandated contacts with families by fully-qualified health visitors need to continue to improve the outcomes of and promote the health and well-being of babies and young children in England.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe would argue that a sixth visit needs to be introduced at three-to-four months to reinforce immunisation messages, support continued breastfeeding, prepare for good weaning and nutrition and give accident prevention advice, as well as supporting maternal and child mental health.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There can be \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no backsliding\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 on the number of visits that babies and young children in England can expect from their health visitor, Unite warned today (Tuesday February 21).   The Community Practitioners\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and Health Visitors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Association (CPHVA) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c part of Unite \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is calling for the current requirement for five health visitor \u00e2\u20ac\u0098mandated\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 visits, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[599,29],"wps_subtitle":"Health visitors demand same number of visits ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11525"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11527,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11525\/revisions\/11527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}