Posted 12 January 2017 - 08:00
Posted 12 January 2017 - 08:00
News
Nottinghamshire trust shelves plans to axe 60 health visitors
The Unite union opposed plans to cut posts
Plans to axe up to 60 health visitors in Nottinghamshire have been shelved.
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust planned the cuts because of reduced funding for its healthy child and public health nursing programme.
In November, the trust said 38 whole-time equivalent (WTE) health visitor posts were at risk, the equivalent of up to 60 health visitors because some work part-time.
But it has announced that workforce changes have largely been achieved through natural turnover of staff and recruitment to new posts.
Jobs transfer
The trust said the number of ‘at risk’ health visitor posts has fallen to 19. These staff members have been offered other jobs within new healthy family teams.
A trust spokesperson said: ‘Some of these posts are temporary and we will continue to work with these staff members to ensure that permanent posts are secured when these become available.’
Union talks
The Unite union opposed the original plans and met with trust representatives just before Christmas.
Unite lead officer for health in the east Midlands Garry Guye said: ‘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 closely in the weeks and months ahead.’
Successful intervention
He added: ‘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.’
The union said deprived families in the region would have bore the brunt of the initial plans if they had been realised.
The trust is commissioned by Nottinghamshire County Council to provide a service combining health visiting, school nursing, breast-feeding support and other services.
The service funding of £15.3 million in 2016-17 will reduce by £1.1 million in 2017-18.
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