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health visitor by the health visitor for the district, but may be accepted
from other agencies. As soon as the case is accepted for intensive work
all other health visiting ceases, the full responsibility for home visiting
rests on the specialised worker. A great deal of co-operation has been
experienced from family doctors, hospitals, the clergy, specialists of
various kinds, including those in local authority's service, from voluntary
organisations and private individuals.
The support given by the specialist health visitors has on the whole
been most rewarding to families floundering in debt and other troubles
and to the visitors themselves. The demand on the Home Help Service
has been negligible as only one family where the mother is seriously ill
has been provided with this service. In one case a debt of £153 has been
reduced to £10.
Some improvement has been achieved in all the families, in some the
recovery has been considerable and the amount of aid has been gradually
reduced. Miss Howse, one of the two specialist workers, states "all the
children are secure and well looked after. I have been able to reduce my
aid to some families because of the support they are receiving from the
contacts I have been able to make for them. Only in the years ahead
will the true value of the work be known and results will show whether
the improvement is of a permanent or temporary nature." From our
experience so far it appears that these families could not lift themselves
out of their difficulties without intensive aid of this sort and the real
interest of the specialised visitors in them.
There are certain disadvantages connected with the amount and kind
of accommodation which we have been able to place at the disposal
of these workers. One shares an office with the Supervisor of Midwivels
and the other occupies a small room in a clinic. Both are inadequate
for the purpose of seeing clients away from their homes in premises
that are central or easily accessible and which provide privacy and a
certain amount of storage space. It is essential that a parent can visit
the worker away from his home where suitable conditions for a private
talk are often completely lacking. It is equally important that the premises
should not appear too official so as to cause the client to shy away from
entering. It is hoped that these points can be borne in mind when more
suitable accommodation becomes available.
Voluntary Workers and Organisations
It is a pleasure to pay tribute to the voluntary workers who give such
regular and efficient assistance in the Hornsey Maternity and Child
Welfare Clinics and whose time and interests are so generously given to
them.
During 1957 health visitors have received immediate help when required
from a number of voluntary bodies including the Diocesan Moral Welfare,
the Invalid Children's Aid Association, the Marriage Guidance Council,
the Women's Voluntary Service, the British Red Cross Society, the
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Old
People's Welfare Association. These voluntary organisations do a very
great deal to fill in the gaps and support individual needs.
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