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
St Pancras 1931
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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43
Professional Nursing in Necessitous Homes.
This is now provided by the staff of the three following District Nursing Associations:—
Hampstead, Metropolitan and North London.
The Borough Council has an arrangement with all the above Associations for the Home
Nursing, at the request of the medical practitioner in attendance, of cases of Measles,
Whooping Cough, Ophthalmia Neonatorum, Pemphigus Neonatorum, Infective Enteritis,
Acute Primary and Acute Influenzal Pneumonia.
Arrangements are also in force with the Metropolitan District Association, whose local
headquarters are at 14, Oakley Square, for the home nursing of cases of Puerperal Fever
and Puerperal Pyrexia. Payment by a block grant is made by the Council.
The following table gives the number of cases and number of visits during the past year:—
| District Nursing Association. | No. of cases. | No. of visits. | Average No. of visits per case. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan | 90 | 1992 | 22.1 |
| Hampstead | 24 | 492 | 20.5 |
| North London | 23 | 291 | 12.7 |
| Total | 137 | 2775 | 20.3 |
In addition to the above, the Metropolitan District Nursing Association also undertook
the necessary nursing arising in connection with 109 cases, chiefly maternity or tuberculosis,
and to these 1,071 visits were paid.
Home Helps.
This term is used to describe women who have received a certain amount of training
in domestic work, including the care of young children. They are provided for necessitous
families where the mother is incapacitated on account of sickness or child-birth.
The management is in the hands of a Voluntary Committee, on which the Council is
represented by two members.
An annual grant of £150 is made by the Borough Council for use in respect of
maternity cases only.
Two permanent "Helps " were employed throughout the year, and 18 temporary
" Helps " for emergency cases.
137 applications were received and 116 cases were dealt with during the year, 93
being maternity and 23 sickness cases.
The services rendered by the "Home Helps" are very valuable and are much
appreciated. The work is also increasing in volume, doubtless due to the supervision exercised
by the Hon. Secretary, who is keenly interested, and who is ably assisted by a competent and
experienced Visitor.
The importance of the work performed by "Home Helps" was mentioned recently in
the Memorandum on Maternal Mortality issued by the Ministry of Health, in which it was
suggested that Local Authorities should consider the desirability of making this provision in
districts where it was not already available.