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
Hornsey 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hornsey, Borough of]
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and medical inspections. Requests for health education in schools are
increasing and during the year no less than 73 talks were given by health
visitors to classes of school leavers at secondary modern schools in the
area. Health talks were also given to outside bodies such as Young
Wives Clubs, Wesley Guilds, the Women's Branch of the British Legion
and the Girl's Life Brigade.
Clinic nurses have undertaken some of the routine work in clinics
and schools to give health visitors time for their more essential duties.
| No. of visits paid by all Health Visitors working in the area to: | 1952 | 1951 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Visits | Total Visits | First Visits | Total Visits | |
| Expectant Mothers | 2,077 | 3,332 | 1,721 | 4,544 |
| Children under 1 year | 3,204 | 15,241 | 3,158 | 13,825 |
| Children 1-5 years | 15 | 20,804 | 27 | 18,146 |
| Children of school age | 1 | 3,417 | 5 | 2,367 |
| Other persons | 3,101 | 4,010 | 1,969 | 3,253 |
| Totals | 46,804 | 42,135 | ||
Number of health visitors employed at end of 1952:—
(a) Whole time on health visiting —
(b) Part time on health visiting 29
(c) Equivalent whole time health visiting service provided
under (b)—including attendances at clinics 22
Co-operation of General Medical Practitioners
One factor which must influence the working of the local health
services is the growing co-operation between the family doctor and
health visitor. This is developing in the following ways. Health visitors
have called upon or contacted general medical practitioners by telephone
on such matters as feeding difficulties of babies, illness of mothers,
including mental disturbances, illness of aged persons, to discuss
departures from normal health of mothers and children of pre-school
or school age, to report the illness of a child suspected of neglect.
General medical practitioners have assisted the Health Department
by referring expectant mothers to local clinics for additonal ante-natal
care, by requesting the services of home helps for sick people or for the
aged, by referring cases for convalescence, by reporting cases of persons
who were not able to care for themselves properly and for whom
hospital accommodation was unobtainable, and also for passing on
advice or information to the health visitor on those cases in which the
health visitor sought the family doctor's advice.
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