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Pour students successfully completed their training in the two
nurseries recognised to Nursery Nurse Training. Facilities were
given to students from a voluntary day nursery and from a nursery
school to enable them to gain experience with the under-twos.
Provision of specially trained Home Helps
In order to equip them to work alongside mothers who are in need
of special help to enable them to care for their children and households,
sel ected Home Helps are given a course of in-service training.
The service has limited uses, but has proved worthwhile during the
year. These home helps, although remaining under the administrative
supervision of the Home Help Organiser co-operate closely with the
Health Visitor concerned.
Home Bathing
Aged persons who are bedfast or homebound are given bed baths and, where
the person is sufficiently agile, complete baths in their own homes by the
Council's cleansing attendants. If the dwelling is without a bath,a 'bungalow'
bath is taken to the premises,together with hot water in insulated containers.
This service is much appreciated, and perhaps not greatly realised until
unforeseen circumstances e.g. sickness of the cleansing attendant causes a
postponement of the service. (Statistics on page 92).
Home Help Service
Home helps are provided under Section 29,National Health Service Act 1946
to undertake domestic work in homes during emergencies, such as illness or
confinements, and to assist aged persons who are unable to fend unaided for
themselves. Increasingly the service is attending to the demands of the latter
category,understandably because of the growing number of aged in the community,
earlier discharge from hospital as the community care service expands, and the
policy of keeping the aged in their own homes as long as possible rather than
admitting them to a hospital or welfare home. At the end of the year 291 home
helps were employed by the Council, the majority on a part-time basis, the
equivalent full-time number being 177, somewhat below the need of 200 forecast
for 1967 (the figure set in Command Paper 1973 on the Development of Community
Care) based on 0.98 helps per 1,000 population for the London area.
Recruitment of home helps remains a problem and wastage is considerable,
especially during the first three months of service when recruits realise that
the work is more exacting than at first anticipated. However a local publicity
campaign carried out in the latter part of the year made some impact.
34.