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'HEALTH VISITOR' TITLE SAFEGUARD WELCOMED BY CPHVA'
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Health visitors have welcomed the protection of the ‘health visitor’ title, following a massive consultation exercise by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
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The Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association is pleased by the NMC’s decision that the title of ‘health visitor’ will be protected and that health visitors will form a significant component of the third part of the register, which governs their professional conduct.
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The council made its decision after a consultation process that revealed 80 per cent of replies favoured the title of ‘public health practitioner’ for the register. However, no name has yet been decided for the third part of the register.
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The CPHVA’s director Mark Jones said: ‘We’re heartened to see that 80 per cent of the individuals and the organisations agreed with our position that there should be three parts of the register for nurses, midwives and public health practitioners.’
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Mark Jones said he looked forward to further details about the name of the third part of the register - which given the overwhelming response in favour - should reflect public health practice.
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Meanwhile, the CPHVA has made clear to the NMC that it is open-minded about the possibility of future direct entry to the third part of the register.
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In its response to the NMC’s consultation on the new register, the CPHVA said it would not reject the idea of direct entry out of hand, although the issue would need to be explored in much greater detail.
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According to the NMC consultation document, as the public health section of the register will be standing along side those of nursing and midwifery, which both have direct entry programmes, it would be logical that the public health section has direct entry. Such a move will require extensive consultation and should be piloted before implementation.
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Mark Jones said: ‘It’s clear that there is a significant group of our members who believe their background in nursing has been essential for their practice as health visitors. That doesn’t mean that all aspects of pre-registration nurse training are relevant at a time of considerable change in the workplace.’
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We are keen to work with the NMC as to what aspects of nursing will continue to be needed as part of public health practice.’
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