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The coalition’s plans to move public health workers, including health visitors, from the NHS to local government is ‘misguided and flies in the face of common sense’, Unite, the union, has said.

Unite, which embraces the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association, was commenting on the White Paper Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our strategy for public health in England. 

Unite national officer for health, Barrie Brown said: ‘The coalition has flown in the face of common sense with its proposals to move the public health workforce, such as school nurses, health visitors and public health consultants, from the unified structure of the NHS to local councils with their myriad ways of working.’ 

‘We believe this will lead to the fragmentation of services which will be detrimental to families, communities and public health priorities.’ 

‘Despite the pledges by ministers that the public health budgets will be ‘ring fenced’ by  local councils, we believe that, with all the financial pressures facing cash-strapped authorities, the temptation for councils to dip into this so-called ‘ring fenced’ money will be too great in some cases.’ 

‘We urged in our submission to the consultation process that the public health workforce remain within the ambit of Public Health England as this would  maintain a joined-up service – the proposed local authority model will lead to fragmentation and is misguided.’ 

‘It also goes against the promises public health minister, Anne Milton gave to the Unite/CPHVA conference last year that health visitors would not be moved to local councils.’ 

‘We will be campaigning strongly for the public health workforce to remain within the NHS.’  

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Note to news editors: 
For further information, please contact Barrie Brown on 07798 531022 and/or Unite communications officer, Shaun Noble on 07768 693940.