HC Deb 20 November 2003 vol 413 cc1380-1W
Mr. Gardiner

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effects on the efficiency of health visitor services of health visitors serving(a) general practitioner surgeries and (b) geographical areas independent of GP surgeries. [138606]

Mr. Hutton

It is for local organisations and health visiting teams to determine how they should best be deployed to meet local needs and circumstances. As primary care trusts have reviewed their services in the light of the national health visitor development programme and the primary care nursing framework, "Liberating the Talents", different models have emerged as most appropriate to the local situation. In some areas, health visitors have found that geographical working enables them to focus more readily on health determinants within the community and work with a range of partners to address these.

Geographical working may be particularly appropriate in some inner city areas where a number of general practices serve the same geographical population. In other places, where the general practitioner practice population corresponds more readily to a geographical area, health visiting teams have valued the close relationship with other primary health care team members that attachment or alignment with general practice can bring.

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