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Widening the entry gates to HV training

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Health visitors are the NHS group that tops the league of numbers retiring ... Direct entry' means removing the nursing pre-requisite without changing the training ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Widening the entry gates to HV training


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Widening the entry gates to HV training Prof
Sarah Cowley Professor of Community Practice
Development Kings College London, Florence
Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery
3
Widening the entry gate to health visitor
education
Sarah Cowley 15th October 2009
4
Health visitor education and regulation
  • 1892 first formal education programme for
    health visitors
  • 1929 regulated profession in statute 2 years
    training, or 6 months for qualified
    nurses/midwives, graduates, teachers
  • 1965 51 weeks training entry restricted to
    general nurses with midwifery training only
    midwifery requirement gradually reduced to
    obstetric experience, then removed
  • 1995 minimum 32 weeks training nurses accepted
    from any part of the register
  • 2000 registered nurses or midwives accepted
  • 2001 health visiting removed from statute
  • 2004 45 programmed weeks training entry
    restricted to registered nurses or midwives
  • 2004 - health visiting register closed

5
Widening the entry gate
  • Why is change necessary?
  • Improve educational standards and fitness for
    purpose
  • Workforce crisis most immediate and significant
  • Improve equity and diversity in workforce
  • What are the barriers?
  • Myths and misconceptions
  • Resistance to change
  • Professional protectionism
  • What is the way forward?

Cowley 2009
6
Educational needs and standards
  • Since 1995, educational standards have been
    concerned with issues other than health visiting
  • Current standards written to establish a generic
    register for community public health nurses, not
    to meet the educational needs of health visitors
  • Of the four years spent in education, less than
    one is specifically concerned with health
    visiting
  • There is no consensus about the importance of
    pre-registration nursing education, or about
    which elements are relevant to health visiting

7
Post-registration nursing system
  • Two major concerns cited by programme leaders
  • Viability of programmes, as too few students
  • Lack of time for essential content within
    programme
  • Health visiting qualification bound up with
    SCPHN, so generic content is standardised
  • Limited flexibility to update/vary content
  • Prevents improvements/developments in health
    visitor education
  • In law (e.g. for purposes of regulation) health
    visiting is a post-registration nursing
    qualification

8
System problems
  • Career framework
  • Starts at wrong place for Modernizing Nursing
    Careers
  • Skillmix issue substitution and capability
  • Limited funding for student places on full time
    programmes cited as a problem BUT
  • Post-registration nursing qualifications are
    obtainedon-the-job in all other specialisms,
    SO
  • Cost of health visitor education regarded as
    excessive
  • Secondment/sponsorship and backfill regarded as
    luxuries and unlikely to last

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Question
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Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) Health Visitors
1988-2008
DH workforce stats
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Health visitors above retirement age
DH workforce stats
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Health visiting register 1989 2004SCPHN
register (HV) Aug. 2004 2008
Missing data 1999,2000, 2001
13
Workforce crisis
  • Health visitors are the NHS group that tops the
    league of numbers retiring
  • Falling workforce numbers reflect cuts in posts,
    but also difficulties in recruiting qualified
    health visitors
  • Falling student numbers reflect reduced funding,
    and also difficulties in recruiting students of
    suitable calibre
  • Health visiting is no longer regarded as an
    attractive career option by nurses and midwives

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Equity and diversity in the workplace
government policy
  • Extending employment through Sure Start Local
    Programmes 1999?
  • NHS Modernisation ? improved flexibility
    including health service of all the talents
    2000
  • 2003 Integrated working across childrens
    workforce
  • Opportunity in the workplace

15
Equity and diversity who do health visitors
delegate to?
D-SCOVOR survey, Cowley et al 2007
16
Who provides core service?
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 1 0
79
49
29
25
21
14
HV others
other profs
RGN
Clinic assistant
NN
HVonly
-----HV team-----
D-SCOVOR survey, Cowley et al 2007
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Who helps extend service?
More
Less
Health visitor only providing core service
fewest groups and community Health visitor
RN no increasein specific areas of work More
skillmix fewer home visits
  • Health visitors others in team More of all
    groups/community
  • Health visitors Nursery nurse More sleep and
    behaviour, baby massage
  • Health visitors Clinic assistants More
    parenting support

D-SCOVOR survey, Cowley et al 2007
18
Equity and diversity in health visiting
government policy
  • 2003 DH rejected NMC consultation (agreed by
    80 at consultation) to establish direct entry
    education for third part of register
  • Restrictive entry gate denies career pathways to
    majority of health visiting team members, as well
    as other potentially suitable recruits
  • Unemployment, especially graduates and young
    people, is currently very high

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Myths and misconceptions
  • Opening entry gates will encourage young entrants
  • Mothers would not like young health visitors
  • Changing the training would mean losing all
    content currently obtained through nurse
    education
  • Direct entry means removing the nursing
    pre-requisite without changing the training
  • The public trust health visitors because they are
    nurses (even if they dont know they are nurses!)
  • Health visitors wouldnt like it

20
Workforce development
  • Length for direct entry training (if law changed)
  • 18 2 years 34 3 years, 13 4 years
  • 29 think it should not happen
  • Potential recruits (as well as nurses)
  • Graduates from suitable degrees 65
  • Other health professionals 43
  • Nursery nurses 30
  • Social workers 19
  • Sure start workers 13

D-SCOVOR survey, Cowley et al 2007
21
Resistance to change
  • Especially by those who
  • Value nursing, but not health visiting
  • Want health visitors to carry out nursing
    functions, not health visiting ones
  • Believe the way they were educated is the only
    way of learning
  • Have limited understanding of how both nursing
    education, and other forms of education have
    changed
  • Have limited understanding of how career patterns
    are changing across age groups

22
Professional protectionism
  • Perception that unity and singularity (not
    diversity) are central to developing nursing as
    a profession
  • Perception that nursing is the only occupation
    that counts, and nurses know everything
  • Perception that nursing knowledge can only be
    gained through three year pre-registration
    programme
  • Perceptions that to change the entry gates will
    harm nursing
  • Perception that nursing and health visiting are
    the same

23
How closely does health visiting relate to
nursing?
same/somewhatsimilar
8
completely/somewhatdifferent
18
D-SCOVOR survey, Cowley et al 2007
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Dual and single qualification options needed
  • Dual qualification options,
  • i.e., nursing/midwifery AND health visiting
  • Develop shortened and fast-track options
  • Consider pre-registration public health nursing
  • Single qualification routes to be developed
  • i.e., health visiting qualification only through
  • Baseline health visiting degree
  • Develop shortened Masters route for suitable
    graduates

25
Dual qualification options
  • Professional entry programme, for qualified
    nurses and midwives (RNHV or RM HV)
  • Could this encompass other health professionals
  • Allied health professionals?
  • Registered complementary therapists?
  • Social workers? Graduate mental health workers?
  • Length of programme? 45 weeks is too short
  • Dual qualification 4-year programme
  • Shortened graduate-entry nursing programmes
    followed immediately by health visiting programme

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Single qualification nursing route
  • Develop public health nursing options
  • Pre-registration public health nursing
    qualification
  • Could be feeder for SCPHN register would need
    to encompass all routes (i.e., SN, OHN, sexual
    health, health protection etc)
  • Might suit nursing hierarchy
  • Not another branch as most of CFP (year 1) is
    about clinical skills applied to caring for sick
    people
  • Would probably need to derogate from EU
    regulations for nursing qualifications
  • Would hasten loss of health visiting title

27
Single qualification health visiting route
  • A base-line three year health visiting degree
    programme
  • Students to reach standards agreed by the
    profession
  • Programme to include
  • competences to be approved by regulator ?NMC
  • agreed elements of nursing and midwifery
  • other aspects considered important?
  • Would require health visiting leadership

28
Expanding entry and developing standards
  • A two-year full time Masters programme to attract
    graduates from a range of suitable degree
    programmes
  • Public health
  • Early years studies
  • Community studies
  • Health promotion
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Social policy
  • Biomedical sciences
  • Nutrition
  • Others?
  • Standards based on agreed three year baseline
    degree

29
The way forward
  • Identify what is needed
  • Forms of education content
  • Relevance from nursing so that is not lost
  • Funding of student programmes
  • Changes to legislation to allow developments
  • Explode myths and misconceptions
  • Involve consumers FPI, Netmums
  • Involve Unite-CPHVA??

30
References
  • Cowley S, Caan, W, Dowling S, Weir, H (2007) What
    do health visitors do? A national survey of
    activities and service organisation. Public
    Health. 121., (11) 869-879
  • Cowley S, Bidmead C (2009) Controversial
    questions (part two) Should there be a direct
    entry route to health visitor education?
    Community Practitioner, 82 (7) 24-28
  • NHS Information Centre for Heath and Social Care.
    2009. NHS Hospital and Community Health Services
    Non-Medical Workforce Census, Detailed Results
    2008. The NHS Information Centre for Heath and
    Social Care. London

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