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area. Such an arrangement encouraged the team to be mutually
supportive, mutually critical and to clarify and change their
thinking concerning the variations in the role of the four arms of
the service.
As a result of a number of meetings between the staff of Queen
Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, and the community nursing staff, a
liaison scheme commenced in January. The scheme involves the
planned early discharge of surgical patients, and ensures that
admission and discharges are planned with full knowledge of the
patients' clinical and social conditions and of the support that
can be provided by the community services.
The practice of "attaching" community nursing staff to groups
of general practitioners continues to grow and at the end of the
year nine members of staff were working in "attachment" and two
in liaison schemes.
Health visiting service
At the beginning of the year one health visitor was working in
an "attachment" scheme. During the course of the year attachment
schemes involving three health visitors started and in
addition two health visitors commenced working in liaison schemes.
The continuing process of attachment of health visiting staff to
general practice has played an important part in increasing the
general practitioners' and the public's awareness of the role of
the health visitor. The demand for health visiting has increased
and the type of service demanded has also changed; so the health
visitors have had to adjust to changes in the character and needs
of the people served, new ways of carrying out the service,
changes within the organisation and the considerable changes in
the total resources available. The improvement in the social and
economic state of the community no longer requires the health
visitors to be totally committed to mothers and young children,
but demands that the service be extended to the whole family.
The work of the health visitor consists of advising, teaching,
counselling, identifying needs and linking with medical, para
medical, and social work agencies. Continued contact with
families gives the health visitors detailed knowledge of the
community with an identifiable service to contact when in need.
The number of first visits made during the year to children
under five years of age was:-