Structures for Named Person scheme not in place

The Scottish Government’s contentious Named Person scheme will not be able to be implemented properly due to staffing shortages in the NHS.

According to The Herald, several of Scotland’s largest health boards are struggling to recruit health visitors – who will be responsible for monitoring young children under the plans.

The Named Person scheme, which assigns a state guardian to every child, is due to come into force in August this year.

Shortages

A report in The Herald last week highlighted a shortfall in the staff required to train health visitors.

This is hampering attempts to recruit more health visitors and alleviate the huge caseload associated with the forthcoming named person role.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is committed to taking on 200 more health visitors but so far has only been able to train 60.

The next batch of health visitors will only begin training in autumn, when the scheme is planned to be in place.

Inadequacies

According to the newspaper, 16 per cent of health visitor positions at NHS Lothian are vacant. In Midlothian the vacancy rate stands at 29 per cent.

NHS Grampian has also revealed that it is 26 places short of its target, making the vacancy rate 15 per cent.

As well as those in the medical profession, teachers have also expressed concerns about the demands of the Named Person scheme.

Last year the Educational Institute of Scotland, the country’s largest teachers’ union, said it had “serious concerns” about an increased workload demand.

Absolute mess

Responding to various inadequacies with the scheme earlier this week, the leaders of the Scottish Conservative and Labour parties advocated a ‘pause’ on the plans.

Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, told the Scottish Daily Mail that the implementation of the scheme had been mishandled.

She said: “This entire process has been an absolute mess and it has caused a lot of anxiety for parents. Parents have lost confidence in the Named Person scheme.”

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson also called for the “pause button” to be pressed, saying the scheme should not be introduced in August.

Legal action

“Let’s get back round the table and find a way to best allocate resources to the young people who are in vulnerable and at risk situations who need it the most”, she added.

The Christian Institute, CARE, TYMES Trust and the Family Education Trust have brought a legal action against the Scottish Government because of the plans.

The No to Named Persons campaign has a petition on the issue, which has so far been signed by nearly 25,000 Scottish residents.