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III. PERSONAL HEALTH SERVICES
The Principal Nursing Officer, Mrs. D. Marrin reports;-
"There have been two changes in the staffing of the senior nursing officers during
1967, with the inevitable difficulties which such changes in senior staff entail. The
present Principal Nursing Officer was appointed in June and the Assistant Nursing Officer
in February. The smoothness with which the new team is settling down has been due in no
small measure to the effort exerted and the continuity given by the Deputy Principal
Nursing Officer during and after the new appointments.
The trend in the services at the school clinic centres is steadily becoming more
family centred, and with a view to improving still further the continuity in the services
available to the families, close liaison between school nurses and health visitors is
practised and where geographically possible the school nurses are being based at clinic
centres.
Health visitors have played an active part in the health education programmes in the
borough, in the homes, schools, clinics and hospital, not least successful being the
parents meetings occasionally held in clinics in the evenings to enable fathers to attendOne
health visitor was seconded to the health education section.
All the day nurseries have continued to help handicapped children (in addition to
the special unit at Queen Mary's Day Nursery) despite the difficulty of recruiting and
retaining staff of suitable calibre, especially the nursery nurse grade. The children
appear to be responding well to the stimulation, as well as providing a certain amount of
relief to the parents.
Three additional play-groups for children under 5 years, which are organised by
voluntary organisations, have been registered, and are supervised by health visitors at
field level and centrally by the nursing officers.
Health visitors also continue to supervise the registered and voluntary child (daytime)
minders.
Additional creche sessions in five clinics have provided much needed play opportunities
for under fives, and relief of stress to parents in many instances.
Difficult families in one area of the borough who were unwilling or unable to attend
the recognised bathing centres, have been persuaded and satisfactorily cleansed by the
repeated efforts of the health visitor.
Routine preventive health work has continued, not least important the work of the
nursing staff at the chest clinics with particular reference to immigrants, together with
the comprehensive vaccination and immunisation service
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