Over 100 health visitors in the south Wales valleys are striking for four weeks
Health visitors in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board are demanding that their banding match their job description.
Hello and welcome to The Valleys Lead.
If you’re new to reading, hello and welcome. We are so glad you’ve decided to join us in looking at stories from the south Wales valleys.
This week, we want to tell you a story about dozens of health visitors who have gone on strike in the valleys. Why are they striking? Are mothers worried? What are the safeguarding risks? Who is to blame if something goes wrong during the strike? Let’s get to answering those questions.
Before we share the story (it’s below!), we just wanted to say thanks for joining us again this week. If you’re enjoying and/or finding these newsletters helpful and informative, we’d love you to keep joining us every week. We are hoping to continue to build a community of readers in the south Wales valleys, and you would be doing local journalism a massive favour by sharing these newsletters on your social media feeds, or just sending them to people you think might be interested.
If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do so below! We’d be over the moon if you financially supported local journalism by paying just a small yearly amount when you subscribe. There’s a sale on right now so seize the day!
If you want to support The Valleys Lead, it’s free to subscribe. Paid subscribers get a bit more for only £4.99 a month, or £49 a year - but we’ve got a St David’s Day treat for you as we now have 30% off if you subscribe during March. More details below.
We’d love to you subscribe. Simply share your email to receive newsletters from us twice a week. Bonus content for paid subscribers!
Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who has been in touch thus far with story tips. Rest assured, if you come to me with a story, discretion can be guaranteed. Get in touch at valleys@thelead.uk or via Bluesky or Instagram.
From last week - some our exclusive reporting will be just for paying subscribers. We don’t have ads, we don’t do clickbait and all of our reporting is done right here in the valleys. If you sign up right now, you get 30% off your subscription forever - whether you pay annually or monthly. We believe journalism done properly is worth paying for and we hope you can support us.
It’s also free to share. And it would be a hugely appreciated if you did share The Valleys Lead with all your friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. Thank you!
The Valleys Briefing
(A little round-up of some stories in brief from our valleys.)
Some very positive news for all of Wales - Wales is removing profit from children’s home, fostering, and secure accomodation. Currently, some of these placements are run by companies that make a profit, meaning public money can end up in shareholders’ pockets rather than being spent on children. In less than a month, new providers of children’s homes, fostering services, and secure accomodation will no longer be able to make a profit in Wales - making it the first nation in the UK to take this landmark step.
Plans for taxi licence feeds in Merthyr Tydfil to increase for the first time in nine years will go out to consultation. Full council on Wednesday, March 4, agreed to consult on proposals which for new drivers (three-year licence) would see fees increase from £272 to £312, driver renewal (three-year licence) fees increase from £230 to £290, vehicle fees go up from £154 to £217, and private hire operator fees (five-year licence) increase from £135 to £394. This news comes off the back of many in Merthyr Tydfil recently noting they have been overcharged for using taxis.
And some happy news. Three children’s parks in Blaenau Gwent, the most deprived local authority in Wales, are to be refurbished with brand new equipment this year. The improvements will be carried out thanks to a combined investment from the Welsh Government’s All Wales Play Opportunities Grant £104,000) and £100,000 from Blaenau Gwent’s councillors through their Members’ Choice funding. Councillor Sue Edmunds, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families said: “Our priorities are to give every child the best start in life and play is so important for the development of their cognitive, physical, social, and emotional skills. These much-needed improvements will ensure children have safe, fun, and inclusive spaces to enjoy for years to come.”
Over 100 health visitors in the south Wales valleys are on strike for four weeks
After suffering with postnatal depression following the birth of her second baby back in the 90s, the support Lisa Burke received from her health visitor inspired Lisa to herself become a health visitor.
“That was the job I wanted to do too,” Lisa, now 59, told The Valleys Lead. Already a registered nurse, Lisa signed up for a one-year course to become a qualified health visitor, and went on to work in Merthyr, and then in Abercynon. Twenty-six years later, she is still serving families, particularly mothers and their children, in the valleys.
But for the last two weeks, Lisa has been striking with 100 other health visitors part of Unite the Union in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (CTMUHB).
Health visitors like Lisa, who do vital community outreach work for new mothers and families, are furious that they are only being paid as band six workers. This is despite internal job grading now matching them as a Band 7 acknowledging a master’s qualification.
Since she started working as a health visitor, Lisa said her responsibilities have greatly increased.
“The role is totally different that what it had previously been,” she said, blaming austerity and the pandemic among many reasons why her workload has drastically increased. “The weight of responsibility we carry is huge. I never switch off from it.”
Another health visitor in the valleys, Janet*, agreed with Lisa regarding the increased workload, adding: “There has been an increase in children identified to have additional needs which requires a more enhanced visiting service,” she told The Valleys Lead. “There is a high level of sickness among health visitors, mostly due to mental health. When a member of your team is off work, their vulnerable cases are distributed out to other health visitors who will hold that family the original health visitor returns from sickness. These additional cases have to be done as well as your own workload and there are no funds within the budget to have bank staff to support us.”
Every weekday, Janet gets home “mentally and physically exhausted,” and the same is true of most health visitors in the valleys.
In June 2021, a health visitor in the valleys repeatedly requested an updated job description for health visitors within the health board to reflect the work being carried out, as part of the 2004 Agenda for Change which matched job descriptions to pay bands.
Nearly four years, and many requests later, nothing had been done, and health visiting staff participated in industrial action, refusing to complete tasks not in their current job descriptions. This action short of a strike, included no unpaid overtime, no statistical reporting for the Welsh government and no covering for vacant caseloads. Action began on 26 February 2024 and continued until late July 2024. It was the first time health visitors had taken industrial action as a distinct group of workers in Wales.
The result? The health board agreed to an updated job description for health visitors.
