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HEALTH VISITING SERVICE
Section 24
Miss H. Townsend, Superintendent Health Visitor, reports that the
pattern of health visiting has been slowly changing during the last ten
years until today each health visitor is more adequately covering the
demands for her services from all age groups and from a number of
voluntary bodies, hospitals, family doctors and others. The health
visitor is often the first to observe signs of mental ill-health or near
breakdown in families on her district and also behaviour problems in
children. It may be necessary to arrange more evening visits than formerly
in order that each health visitor is able to see working fathers and mothers
or the whole family together or single people in the evening or at other
times when they are more likely to be at home.
Home visits by health visitors have risen slightly during the year and
more visits to the aged have been undertaken. The majority of visits
to the aged have followed requests from almoners and family doctors
for the health visitor to see that there are proper facilities for home care
of the elderly people discharged from hospital, to assess the ability of
the person to manage after having been discharged for some weeks or on
account of the family doctor's opinion that help is required. Most of
these requests are made by telephone and the health visitor's report on
each case is given directly to the initiator by telephone also. This method
works smoothly and avoids delay.
Written health visitor's home reports have increased slightly in response
to requests chiefly from hospitals. These include replies to enquiries as
to whether mothers should be admitted for hospital confinement on
account of poor home conditions or for other social reasons.
Health Visitors' work in clinics of various kinds is well known and is
carried out with the usual efficiency.
Special Investigations
During last year, as in former years, health visitors assisted the Medical
Research Council, the London County Council and other bodies in the
home visiting of persons included in specific surveys who are resident in
this Area.
The incidence of the outbreak of smallpox in July caused a good deal
of extra work for health visitors in Tottenham in satisfying the many
enquiries from members of the public, in attending vaccination clinics
each evening and on Sunday morning for the quarantine period.
Assistance was also given by health visitors to the few direct contact
families who were confined to their own homes. Health visitors arranged
for the purchase of food and other commodities and for deliveries of
goods in accordance with the strict measures imposed to control the
spread of infection.
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