Over 100 health visitors and school nurses crowded into a committee room at parliament at the end April for an event to lobby MPs. The briefing was a chance to rally against the biting cuts to the profession and discuss how members can engage politicians and the public and unite them behind the cause. Members came from all over the UK to attend the session and many invited their MPs in order to discuss the issues facing health visitors. A handful of politicians did attend, from areas including South Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Staffordshire and North London, among others (see box for tips on how to ask your MP to help). Shadow health secretary for England, Jon Ashworth, spoke at the meeting just hours after revealing a number of key pledges if a Labour government were to be elected. These include scrapping the NHS pay cap, reintroducing student bursaries and having safe staffing levels for the NHS introduced into legislation for the first time. All of these were welcomed with applause by those assembled in the room.
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