Published: 02 July 2009
Three Year Campaign Saves Health Visiting In Scotland
The successful three-year battle to save health visiting as a distinct profession in Scotland has been welcomed by Unite, the largest union in the country.
Proposals to merge the community nurse specialisms, such as health visiting, school nursing and district nursing, into one generic community nursing role was fiercely fought on the grounds that it would cause confusion to the public and dilute the specialised knowledge that health care professionals had built up.
The Scottish Government has now abandoned the generic role pilot schemes, following protests from Unite, which embraces the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association (CPHVA).
In a letter to the health unions, Deputy First Minister & Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Nicola Sturgeon said that ‘it had been agreed, under the auspices of the Modernising Community Nursing Board, that career development for registered nurses would be considered within the existing community nursing professions’.
Unite’s Professional Officer in Scotland, Gavin Fergie said:
“This is the successful result of a three-year battle to keep the community nurse professions distinct, which we believe is the best option to deliver quality services to the families and communities of Scotland.
Unite is pleased that the Cabinet Secretary has recognised the majority view of community nursing practitioners in Scotland by signalling the end of the project to consider a future generic role for community nursing practitioners.
This generic community health nurse role never had our members support - a fact the Cabinet Secretary appreciated in discussions with Unite and partnership colleagues.
The existing pilots will be wound down with a new board charged with leading the direction of community nursing professions in Scotland to be set up by August.
Unite will have a place on this new board”.
Further information
Unite Health Sector web page
Unite/CPHVA
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