Staffing shortfall sees caseloads soar for Warwickshire health visitors

By David Lawrence - Local Democracy Reporter

14th Sep 2022 | Local News

 The number of health visitors nationally had dropped by nearly 3,700 over the past six years
The number of health visitors nationally had dropped by nearly 3,700 over the past six years

Burnout among Warwickshire's health visitors is a real concern according to one county councillor after hearing that too few people were entering the industry.

Cllr Judy Falp flagged up her fears during last week's meeting of Warwickshire County Council's health and wellbeing board when members were given a staffing update.

Councillors heard that the number of health visitors nationally had dropped by nearly 3,700 over the past six years and that staff across the county were handling caseloads far in excess of guidelines.

Sarah Foster, from South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust, explained the impact that the national staffing crisis was having locally.

She said: "In Warwickshire we should have around 85 health visitors and we actually only have 68 in post. We cannot recruit because of the national shortage.

"Our caseloads are at the highest at the end of August before we send some children off to school. The recommended caseload for full-time health visitors is 250 but currently in Rugby, where we have had a significant shortage, the caseload is currently around 1,600.

"All of the other teams are more than 400 so to get us down to 250 we would need 120 full-time equivalent health visitors.

"We have also seen an increase in the number of refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Warwickshire and they have their own identified set of needs." 

She added that recruitment continued to be a major issue. Seven student health visitors had been appointed but three posts remained vacant because there were not enough applicants for the roles. 

Cllr Falp said: "This isn't sustainable. Early intervention is virtually a no-no because you can't do it at the moment. With workloads like that you will have burnout from your health visitors."

A report considered by councillors explained that a plan had been rolled out last autumn but staff were still leaving the NHS and university courses were not viable due to the lack of interest.

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse said: "I was recently in the family centre in Rugby and I know it has been disastrous for months. I don't know how they have been dealing with the casework they have. I understand about the national staffing issue but I do have great concerns about Rugby's position at the moment."

     

New kenilworth Jobs Section Launched!!
Vacancies updated hourly!!
Click here: kenilworth jobs

Share:

Related Articles

Here is our weekly roundup of local jobs available now! (image by James Smith)
Local News

Five jobs available near Kenilworth right now: Iceland, Holiday Inn and Costa

Outline plans for the whole development at Thickthorn (image via planning application)
Local News

Kenilworth planning roundup: Nightclub, rugby club plans and concerns ignored

Sign-Up for our FREE Newsletter

We want to provide kenilworth with more and more clickbait-free local news.
To do that, we need a loyal newsletter following.
Help us survive and sign up to our FREE weekly newsletter.

Already subscribed? Thank you. Just press X or click here.
We won't pass your details on to anyone else.
By clicking the Subscribe button you agree to our Privacy Policy.