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Home Nursing Service
During the year the system of nurses working in groups and being partially decentralised
was continued. It is felt that this has improved the service given to the patients and is
liked by them, as well as having increased the job satisfaction for the nurses. Most of the
senior nurses, who act as leaders of the groups and have responsibility for training student
district nurses in the field, attended a practical work instructor's course to equip them
more fully to undertake their new responsibilities.
Attachment to and liaison with general practitioners continued to be successful.
The Marie Curie Memorial Foundation continued their help to patients with cancer either
by paying for extra nourishment or for a night nurse to relieve relatives of the burden of
continuous night nursing. The Queen Mary's Needlework Guild were generous in providing
clothing for the needy at Christmas.
Pupil nurses at St. Matthew's Hospital, Shepherdess Walk, attended for district nurse
training within the Borough, this training being integrated with their hospital training.
It included working on the district for 2 weeks in their first year and for 8 weeks at the
end of their hospital training, after which they took the examination of the Queen's Institute
Assessment for State Enrolled Nurses. Three schools from St. Matthew's Hospital attended
during 1967, two of which completed the training and were successful. This is another scheme
which is proving successful and is providing the hospital nurse with a chance to see the home
and social conditions of hospital patients. During 1967 a total of thirteen students
successfully completed their district nursing training in the borough and of these five came
from countries outside the United Kingdom.