The Scottish Government’s embattled Named Person scheme has faced new criticism, this time from named persons themselves.
A report by public service union UNISON Scotland shows that more than half the health visitors it represents believe the scheme is not a “good thing”.
Health visitors will be required to act as named persons under the plans, monitoring the ‘wellbeing’ of young children until they start school.
Not sensible
UNISON’s January report, not widely publicised until now, said giving health visitors more responsibilities “is not sensible at this time”. Despite this, a statement released today said they do still support the scheme.
The union’s report, highlighted by the No to Named Persons (NO2NP) campaign, found that health visitors have serious fears over the plans.
They are worried that they will be made “scapegoats” if a child is harmed and that parents will view them as snoopers.
One visitor is reported to have said: “I would feel I had lost all right as a parent”, while another predicted that parents will be “looking to sue someone”.
Recruitment
Concerns were also raised over the impact of extra pressure and bureaucracy for health visitors at a time when the NHS is struggling to recruit enough staff.
Recent reports show that several of Scotland’s largest health boards are struggling to recruit health visitors.
Responding to the UNISON report Simon Calvert, spokesman for NO2NP, said it “doesn’t get any worse” for the Government.
Too much work
Mr Calvert said: “We now have named persons queuing up to attack the very scheme they have been tasked with carrying out.
“The Scottish Government should have the humility to listen to what the front-line professionals are saying.”
He added: “The system cannot cope. There are too few staff with too little training to cope with too much work and too many children.”
Staff shortfall
A report in The Herald last week highlighted a shortfall in the staff required to train health visitors.
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.
According to the newspaper, 16 per cent of health visitor positions at NHS Lothian are vacant. NHS Grampian has also revealed that it is 26 places short of its target, making the vacancy rate 15 per cent.
Wellbeing
The Named Person scheme, which assigns a state guardian to every child in Scotland, is due to come into force in August this year.
Under the plans, named persons – health visitors and teachers – will be tasked with looking after children’s wellbeing. State-funded guidance has defined wellbeing simply as ‘happiness’.