London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Islington 1968
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington Borough]
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Co-operation with general practitioners continued, three further health visitors working
in liaison with three different practices.
| Children born between 1963 and 1968 | 18,574 | (20,819) |
| Persons over 65 | 389 | (216) |
| Mentally disordered persons | 140 | (198) |
| Persons (excluding maternity cases) discharged from hospitals (other than mental hospitals) | 306 | (254) |
| T.B. Households visited | 21 | (26) |
| Households visited on account of other infectious illnesses | 963 | (244) |
| Total effective visits | 54,503 | (57,343) |
| Total ineffective visits | 14, 361 | (13,418) |
HOME NURSING SERVICE
Schemes for group attachments initiated in 1967 continued to flourish and more are under
consideration.
The Council arranged for several senior district nursing sisters to take a course for
Practical Work Instructors to give them an insight into practical teaching in the field and
management of staff, before becoming Group Leaders. This proved beneficial to all staff
concerned.
The Queen's Institute of District Nursing ceased to award their certificate in May 1968,
and the Council was therefore unable to take students for training. Consequently it was
necessary for the Borough to make alternative arrangements for the theoretical training
necessary for students, and plans were under discussion for this to be provided at the North
Western Polytechnic.
Pupil state enrolled nurses from St. Matthew's Hospital continued to be taken for a
course of integrated training.
The Marie Curie Foundation continued to provide generous help for patients with all
types of cancer. This enabled extra nursing help to be provided to a number of patients and
also to provide some with extra nourishment. With this assistance one patient was provided
with a folding bed and was thus enabled to be nursed in the sitting-room during the day.
Queen Mary's Needlework Guild provided some very useful clothes for the necessitous, and
the Beal Girls Grammar School, Ilford, Essex sent several hand-knitted blankets for distribution
amongst elderly patients.
| Total No. of patients being nursed at 1. 1. 68 | 629 | (637) |
| do. do. 31. 12. 68 | 649 | (629) |
| do. nursed during the year | 2,423 | (2,533) |
| do. visits made do. | 92,974 | (98,601) |
| do. do. to persons aged over 65 | 75,982 | (79,158) |
| Proportion of visits made to persons aged over 65 | 81.7% | (80.2%) |
| Nursing treatments completed during the year | 1,774 | (1,894) |
| Nursing treatments commenced during the year | 1,784 | (1,896) |
LOAN OF EQUIPMENT
The scheme for the loan of equipment, free of charge to persons being nursed (irrespective
of whether by district nurse, relative or friend) in their own home continued during the year.
The items loaned included the following:-
88