Any Health Visitors on here? What do you know about new Implementation Plan? (A Call to action??)

[tiredemma]

I am a Registered Mental Health Nurse- I have been given a leaflet through work about a massive recruitment drive to get so many HV's by 2015. I must admit that I massively interested in this and would jump at the chance of applying.

I have looked online and can see that there are some quite radical changes afoot- but wonder what the feeling is within current HV's?

[annoyedhv]

There's central govt funding for training more HVs but there seems to be wide variation in whether they're being employed once trained. The money for employing all these newly qualified HVs is not ring fenced so PCTs can spend it on what they want. Some PCTs don't see health visiting as a priority despite what the govt says. Everyone very fed up in our PCT, children's services being cut and plans afoot to move us into teams with social workers (huge problem recruiting SWs) and only do child protection. HVs are leaving and not being replaced so those left are even more stressed. Newly qualified HVs not being given jobs, this might change if govt finds a way of compelling PCTs to employ them. Looking on the bright side, if you do the training you get a funded degree - but you won't know what kind of job, if any, you'll have at the end of it.