26th April 2018 By Graham Smith Cornwall’s health chiefs are planning to close and sell more than a dozen health visitor bases, moving staff into council offices. The strategy is…
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Totally retrograde step for care in the community, much lauded by our Council. In a vast rural county like Cornwall with very little public transport, we are going to see an increase in poor health and social isolation. Cutting costs now is going to have a knock on effect for generations. Targets might be met by our civil servants but policy implementation will be shockingly poor. Lack of strategy and lack of good common sense.
Frankly, people with no idea about what health visitors do should not be making decision about where they should be located. This is a joke and not a funny one. When I started health visiting we were based in health centres and had space to run clinics, groups, health promotion etc and we had the capacity to do home visits if necessary. This is a backward step for child health, child protection and maternal mental health and for the community as a whole. Well done faceless officials!!