authorities to establish maternal and child welfare services and led to the first training courses for health visitors. In 1929, health visitors began to be employed by local councils on a statutory basis and since 1974 they have been employed by the National Health Service. Post-war Beginning in 1945, health visitors operating in the UK were required to be Registered Nurses or Midwives who had undertaken further training to work as part of a primary health care team. In the 1950s, their interventions were made more extensive to ensure they could provide a cradle-to-grave service, working also with the elderly and chronically ill. In 1959 Elaine Wilkie was appointed tutor at Manchester University where she launched a community health nursing diploma. This led to the development of a qualification as a state registered nurse and health visitor, which in turn led to the development of the first UK nursing degree in the UK. Wilkie worked at the University of Manchester with Fraser Brockington, Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine. The course started with nine students in 1959. In 1962, the Health Visiting and Social Work (Training) Act established the Council for the Training of Health Visitors (CTHV) and the Council for Training in Social Work (CTSW). The CTHV comprised 31 members of whom 14 were appointed by the Minister of Health. In 1970 the title of the CTHV was changed to the Council for the Education and Training of Health Visitors (CETHV). Post-1997 Under the Blair Ministry, rising case-loads were considered to be affecting the potential quality of interventions in young families. As a result, their work was refocused back to young families; the reduced intervention in elderly care has been accompanied by a commensurate rise in admissions of elderly patients to A+E departments and care homes. After Sure Start was introduced, to provide general early years support to families, the refocusing on young families lead many health visitors to use Sure Start centres as their base. The Healthy Child Programme, published in October 2009, influences the core service available to families, breaking it down into two age groups : firstly the first 5 years, and secondly 5-19 year olds. The latter age group are traditionally dealt with by school nurses - a public health nurse embedded within, or frequenting a school - with health visitors handing over responsibility to them, for a child's development and welfare, once the child