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Thus the mother learns, by actual trial, the trouble involved in
dealing with the matter and the labour which underlies the subsequent
effort for her betterment. The Health Visitor advises. It
is for the mother and her friends to take the necessary steps and
to do the work. In this way the mother's self respect is saved.
The policy of the Health Department has been to inculcate a
spirit of robust independence in the parents—to tell them what
to do, how to do it, and to let them do it. The experience and
instruction gained in personal application survive for the benefit
of neighbours and other mothers.
In the case of failure, the offer is made of tactful help and of
unobtrusive co-operation.
Every effort is made to avoid overlapping with the work of
poor-law officials or of charitable associations. The duties of a
Health Visitor are kept quite distinct from those of a district
visitor or of a relieving officer. Letters of reference are not sent
from the Public Health Office save in very pressing or knotty
circumstances. This saves the time of the staff from being wasted
on clerical work, and enables more time to be devoted to home
visits. For home visitation is considered to be by fair the most
important work of the Health Visitor.
For Finsbury purposes the instruction and attendance at Weighing
Centres and Schools for Mothers are, in this connection,
deemed to be of third-rate or even of fourth-rate importance.
Everything else is subordinated to home visitation, and any
part of the work which, in any way, interferes with the efficiency,
scope, or extent of home visitation is discarded. Visits are not
paid to children over one year or to borderland children who live
in or who have removed into other boroughs.
As a rule, the health visitors are exceedingly well received and
welcomed by parents. It is an extremely rare event for a visit
to be resented.