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Service is also given in the clinics held weekly e.g. child health, ante-natal, family planning and cervical
cytology, some of which are held in the evenings to enable working mothers to attend.
Teams of nursing staff have attended cytology sessions held in health clinics and at various business
premises and the large stores in the City; they have also attended lunch time family planning sessions held
in a health centre.
Provision of care includes support during periods of stress in the family, advice and guidance in cases of
illness as well as the care and management of children.
Visiting the elderly has become an important function, and continues in co-operation with the City of
Westminster Old People's Welfare Association; the difficulty in tracing old people who need services
remains, but constant enquiries and follow-ups are organised.
Some health visitors continue to work with general practitioners and the happy and co-operative
understanding remains; extension of attachments has not been easy due to the continual change and
turnover of health visitors. Arrangements for attachment are encouraged by the senior nursing staff
whenever possible but it was not possible to increase the number of attachments during 1971 due to
staffing difficulties.
The health visitors are assisted by teams of trained nurses and clinic auxiliaries, but here again the
constant change and turnover of staff created difficulties and resulted in instances in which service could
not be provided.
Organisation
The work carried out by the nursing staff is organised from the ten Maternal and Child Health Centres in
Westminster. This arrangement cuts out travelling time for the staff and gives all members of the
community a base to contact when they require help and advice.
During the first three months of 1971 meetings were held at the Centres with the area teams of the
Social Services Department in preparation for the changes in the administration of mental health and day
nursery services. These meetings encouraged co-operation and understanding at field level so that all field
workers would know each other and make useful contacts, to the benefit of the families served. The
meetings have been continued following transfer of functions from the Health Department to the Social
Services Department and every effort is made to encourage the staff concerned and to foster close
co-operation.
In-service Training, Refresher and Management Courses
One Nursing Officer attended a middle-management course.
Two senior staff attended first-line management courses.
Two health visitors were trained to become field work instructors for health visitor training.
Six health visitors had refresher courses during the year.
Two senior health visitors had management appreciation courses.
Fifty staff attended Study Days and In-service Training Courses.
Liaison with Hospitals
Members of the nursing staff attend weekly sessions with consultant geriatricians and their staff at two
teaching hospitals to ensure all necessary services can be laid on when the patients return to their homes. A
nursing officer also attends all wards in one hospital to ensure district nursing and social follow-up for all
patients discharged to homes within the City. This experiment started in 1971, and it is hoped to extend it
to other hospitals in Westminster in due course.
Student nurses from hospitals within the City continue to make observation visits, which involves
members of the staff from various sections of the Department.