§ Mr. Galleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the current national provisions for the training of health visitors; and what national provision is made for the standardised retraining of qualified health visitors who have left the profession for some time and are then re-employed as health visitors.
§ Mr. HayhoeA total of 36 institutions in England provide courses for the training of health visitors. Several of these also offer courses for field ward teachers and assessors of supervised practice. Five institutions offer integrated degree programmes.
Short English National Board approved courses for qualified health visitors wishing to return to professional practice are offered by the Health Visitors Association. Two such courses are currently available. For other health visitor re-entrants to the profession re-orientation programmes are arranged on an individual basis by the employing health authority.