David Cameron announces Tory commitment to a universal health visiting service
March 20, 2008
Making the keynote speech to the Conservative Spring Forum, David Cameron promised to double the current number of health visitors, to provide a universal support service for new mothers at home. He said the new positions would be funded using money currently earmarked by the Government for untrained Sure Start outreach workers claiming that resources should be invested in trained experts as the decline in the number of trained health workers was creating serious problems in children’s health. The announcement was one of a raft of family-friendly policies, emphasising the conservative commitment to supporting families. Cameron named families “the most important institution in the country” and pledged to give parents the right to twelve months leave after the birth of a child, to share between them as they choose, and to reward marriage in the tax system.
Entry Filed under: Early parenthood, England, Parliamentary update, Wales. Tags: Conservatives, David Cameron, Health visitors, maternity leave, NCT, paternity leave, postnatal, Sure Start.
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Belinda Phipps | March 20, 2008 at 4:04 pm
There is no doubt that those caring for a new baby need a great deal of non judgemental support, encouragement and guidance. Getting things right from the start, and helping parents meet other parents locally, makes the difference to how resourceful and confident parents feel.
The NCT is pleased that the Conservative Party recognises this, however, details of the proposals need careful consideration. There are strong arguments for targeting most support towards parents who are disadvantaged or have particular needs. Health visiting could be an effective way to support families but finding the numbers of new health visitors and providing appropriate additional training would be a challenge.
We need to know how much additional funding there would be under a Conservative government for maternity and early years family support. We also need to see how this proposal fits with earlier proposals such as maternity support workers in the home for every family.