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District Nursing
The district nursing service in Southwark is the direct responsibility of the
Council. The service is provided only on the recommendation of the patient's general
practitioner with whom the nurse works in close co-operation. As a first step in the
strengthening of ties with general practitioners in the Borough, one district nurse
assists a group practice with the follow-up of patients. To carry out this work she
attends morning and evening surgeries. It is planned to attach more nurses to group
practices.
Section 25 of the National Health Service, Act, 1946, states that the function
of a home nurse is attendance on persons who require nursing in their own homes.
As may be expected, many of the patients are elderly and approximately two-thirds
of those nursed during 1967 were in the 65+ age group. Nursing auxiliaries were
employed to provide the routine care of long-term patients.
During the year eight students completed their district nurse training for the
Queen's Roll and the National Certificate of District Nursing. In this connection,
the Queen's Institute of District Nursing announced that, as a voluntary body, they
should concentrate on the promotion and development of new ideas rather than
duplicate the work of other authorities; consequently, it was considered that the
Queen's Examination and certificate were a duplication of the work of the Ministry
of Health and it was decided to discontinue these aspects of the Institute's work.
The Queen's Examination and Certificate has been valued as signifying a high standard
and its discontinuance will necessitate the making of other arrangements for
examinations. Discussions have taken place between the Ministry of Health and the
London Boroughs' Training Committee to devise a programme of training and
issuing certificates to district nurses. In the meantime, the Institute have agreed to
continue their training programme for the National Certificate until the Minister's
decision is known.
Many student nurses from Guy's, St. Francis and St. Giles' Hospitals and
medical students from Middlesex Hospital accompanied district nurses on their
rounds.
The following table indicates the volume of work undertaken by the district
nursing service during 1967:
New patients visited in 1967 3,050
Total number of visits 131,681
Nursing stalf employed at the end of the year (effective w.t.e.) 45
Visits per nurse (full time equivalent) 2,926
Maternal Deaths
In my last Annual Report I described the spectacular drop in maternal mortality
which has taken place this century. Further improvement is unlikely to be so dramatic
but, although maternal deaths in 1967 fell to a record low level of 170 in England
and Wales, many are still avoidable. I refer to those which take place following
self-induced or criminal abortion. It will be interesting to see whether the introduction
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