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Home visiting figures have dropped slightly this year. This
is due to more time being spent on individual visits, particularly
those referred from outside the department. Health visitors have
also attended Claybury Hospital on Mental Health courses in time which
would otherwise have been devoted to health visiting.
Health Visitors' attendance at Hospital Paediatric
Clinics
As in previous years, a health visitor has attended two paediatric
clinics each week at the Prince of Wales's General Hospital.
Her function there is to be present with the Consultant Paediatrician
and to give him information as required of the home conditions or
past history of cases known to her. Where particulars are not
known, information is passed on to the health visitor concerned so
that she may provide a report for the Consultant if necessary. This
arrangement of health visitor attendance keeps the health visitor
informed of the cases which need particular advice and support and
each can be followed up more closely. In our experience it is
useful to have a rota of health visitors to undertake to be present at
these clinics to take part and to be known in the hospital.
Special Services Health Visitor's Report
Miss Howse takes over Hornsey families with special difficulties
and gives them intensive attention and guidance. Her report is as
follows
"During this year I have dealt with 24 families; eight of these
have now been handed back to their own local health visitor, five new
families have been taken over, leaving eleven families from last year
still needing some support and help.
The trend this year has slightly changed again and I am getting
more young families where short intensive psychiatric treatment and
long term support is needed.
Mothers with post puerperal depression or early schizophrenia
may have to be admitted to hospital for six weeks. This means
that the young children must be admitted to the day nursery and the
father helped to keep the family together. This experience helps
him to understand the work entailed in running a home. The mother
must be regularly visited and written to, her fears allayed and
encouragement given so that she stays in hospital for the complete
treatment which may include sedation, shock treatment and drugs.
One mother recently walked out of hospital four times in the
six weeks and was persuaded to return and taken back by her general
practitioner, the police and myself; this is all very time consuming.
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