The Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association (CPHVA) 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 trade union in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus (trade union), Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union. A general union ...

. Its 18,500 members include

health visitor Health visitors are professional individuals engaged in public health work within the domestic setting, predominantly found in countries with state-funded health systems. They are distinct from district nurses, who provide clinical healthcare, do ...

s, 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 cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...

. 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 Inspectors. *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, "white collar" workers. It was formed in 1905 as the National Association of Local Government Officers, ...

and to the National Union of Women Workers *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 center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

*1930 renamed Women Public Health Officers' Association *1962 renamed Health Visitors' Association *1992 amalgamated with the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union Health visitors were involved with

Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. 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, England, displaying a mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art". Founded in 2007, the W ...

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, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

. 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