HEALTH visitors in North Yorkshire are being asked to take on the role of school nurses in a move described as “a disgrace” by union bosses.

NHS North Yorkshire and York has defended its decision following a scathing attack from the Unite union, which said overworked health visitors will now be asked to take on the welfare of thousands of children in Ryedale, Selby and Scarborough. Karen Reay, Unite national officer for health said: “It is a disgrace that this PCT, which covers the third largest population of any PCT in England, should have adopted such measures that can only be detrimental to the health and welfare of thousands of families and children.”

The union said spending cuts had already seen the PCT’s health visitor headcount drop from 200 in 2005 to 133 this year and that there were only 8.33 school nurses for the whole of the trust area.

School nurses work in schools with children aged from five-years-old. Their duties range from carrying out immunisations to providing information on sex health issues or drug awareness.

Jo Harding, general manager of Children and Specialist Services at North Yorkshire and York Community and Mental Health Services, said her health workers were being asked to use their “transferable skills” to work with 0 to 11-year-olds, rather then 0 to five-year-olds.”

She said: “We have consulted extensively with health visitors, school nurses and union representatives regarding these changes. There is a training package being developed to support this.”

She said a major part of modernisation work which began in 2006 was to ensure all available resources to deliver services to the 0-19 age group were shared more equitably across health visiting and school nursing.