Threat To Axe Up To 60 Nottinghamshire Health Visitors Recedes - Unite

The threat to axe up to 60 health visitors in Nottinghamshire appears to have receded, after intervention by Unite the union.

In November, Unite, which embraces the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association (CPHVA), condemned plans to cut 38 whole time equivalent (WTE) health visitor posts from a workforce of about 138 by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. As many health visitors work part-time, so the 38 WTE jobs could have translated into a loss of up to 60 health visitors.

Unite lead officer for health in the East Midlands Garry Guye said: "Unite took this threat to our members' jobs and the deprived communities they serve in Nottinghamshire very seriously. However, following a meeting just before Christmas with the trust, the threat to the 0-19 year-old service which employs the health visitors appears to have receded.

"But we will be monitoring the situation very closely in the weeks and months ahead. Given where we were at the beginning of the process, I am relatively pleased that Unite's position of maintaining our strong opposition to the new service delivery model has borne fruit.

"We knew the proposals would adversely affect the community and our members. We have now had a meeting with the management which resulted in assurances based on monitoring, reviews and adjustments, which will flag up evidence that the new model of service delivery is actually not working."

Unite said that the main reason for the job cuts had been originally mooted was directly linked to the government's austerity drive to achieve £20 billion in so-called 'efficiency savings' from the NHS.

(CD/JP)