The figures, which were obtained by the charity through the Freedom ofInformation Act (FOI), revealed huge variations in the number of healthvisitors up and down the country.
While County Durham has one health visitor for every 165 children, thereis only one for every 894 children in the London Borough of Lambeth.Eight out of the ten PCTs with the lowest numbers of health visitors arein London.
The CPHVA/Unite union, which represents health visitors, recommends thathealth visitors should have a caseload of no more than 250 children.Only 16 of the 138 PCTs that responded to the FOI request met thistarget.
Karen Reay, Unite's national officer for health, said, 'This backs upthe feedback we receive from our members of increasing workloads and anover-stretched health visitor workforce. The findings reinforce ourlong-standing demands that an extra 4,000 health visitors are employedand that training budgets for the next generation of health visitors areimmediately restored. We look to the Department of Health summit onhealth visiting on 5 May to formulate a practical programme of actionover the next two years.'
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