The Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association is a Trade union and professional association for health care staff in the UK and Ireland. It is part of

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (after ...

. Its 18,500 members include health visitors, school nurses, nursery nurses and other community nurses working in primary care. It produces a monthly journal ''Community Practitioner'', which contains both news and scholarly articles.

Activity

Obi Amadi, the lead professional officer, featured in a list of leading BME staff in the NHS compiled by the

Health Service Journal ''Health Service Journal'' (''HSJ'') is a news service that covers policy and management in the National Health Service (NHS) in England. History The '' Poor Law Officers' Journal'' was established in 1892. In 1930, it changed its name after ...

in November 2014 and was praised for her involvement in the campaign to end

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...

. The association organises annual awards for practitioners: Community Nursery Nurse of the Year; National School Nurse of the Year; It has a fund, the MacQueen Travel Bursary for Public Health Activity Abroad to assist members to broaden their experience. Student of the Year

History

Women sanitary inspector examining young girls hair Wellcome L0025668

*1896 Women Sanitary Inspectors' Association founded by seven women sanitary workers, all based in London. *1915 renamed the Women Sanitary Inspectors' and Health Visitors' Association. *1917 removed the limitation of membership to qualified

Sanitary Inspector Environmental Health Officers (also known as Public Health Inspectors or Environmental Health Practitioners) are responsible for carrying out measures for protecting public health, including administering and enforcing legislation related to enviro ...

s. *1918 Association registered as a Trade Union, affiliated to

National and Local Government Officers' Association The National and Local Government Officers' Association was a British trade union representing mostly local government "white collar" workers. It was formed in 1905 as the National Association of Local Government Officers, and changed its full ...

and to the

National Union of Women Workers The National Council of Women exists to co-ordinate the voluntary efforts of women across Great Britain. Founded as the National Union of Women Workers, it said that it would "promote sympathy of thought and purpose among the women of Great Brita ...

*1921 membership widened to include School Nurses and other kinds of public health work *1924 affiliated to the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

*1930 renamed Women Public Health Officers' Association *1962 renamed Health Visitors' Association *1992 amalgamated with the

Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union Manufacturing, Science and Finance (or the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union; almost exclusively known as MSF) was a trade union in Britain. Over eighty members of Parliament (primarily members of the Labour Party) were members. Histor ...

Health visitors were involved with

Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. The colours of the CPHVA’s logo are still mauve and green. The archives of the organisation from 1902 to 1984, when Jane Wyndham-Kaye retired as General Secretary, are held in the

Wellcome Collection Wellcome Collection is a museum and library based at 183 Euston Road, London, displaying a mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art". Founded in 2007, the Wellcome C ...

Campaigns

It is concerned about the wider determinants of health as well as the prospects for its members. The association is concerned about changes to the commissioning of community services for children, which will be transferred to local councils in October 2015, as commissioning of school nursing was in April 2013. It is a member of the Paediatric Continence Forum, which presses for improvements in paediatric continence care. In 2015 there were 12292 health visitors in England and Wales, an increase from 10,046 in 2000. In 2000 there were 297 children under 5 per health visitor, a figure which rose to 419 in 2011 but is now declining after an increase in the numbers of health visitors trained, a pledge of the

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

. A cut of £200 million in local authority public health visitors is seen by the association as a threat to health visitor numbers.

References

External links

{{commonscat
CPHVA website
Unite the Union Community nursing Healthcare trade unions in the United Kingdom Trade unions based in London Trade unions established in 1896