Nursery World - Legal status of health visitors must be restored, says union

Health visiting needs to be recognised in law as a profession to avoid more tragedies like the case of Baby P, says the health visitors' union Unite.

The union has launched a campaign for health visiting to be legally redefined and returned to statute law as it was up to 2001.

Health visiting as a profession was removed from the Nursing and Midwifery Order and from all other laws, including the Children Act 1989, nine years ago.

Unite is arguing that without this legal protection the profession has no legal standing and its title has no official meaning, putting the public more at risk.

Unite's lead professional officer Obi Amadi said, 'This campaign is not about legal complexities, but restoring the status of a 150-year-old profession, so that the public is protected and the important health visiting services to communities and families are restored.'

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