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82
priority services, increased its scale for whole-time dental surgeons to £770 rising to
£1,250, an increase of £30 at the minimum and £245 at the maximum. This has
helped to stop the exodus and to bring in a few new recruits. Although the Council's
plans for extending and improving the dental services committed to its care have
had to be held in abeyance, there has, in recent months, been no further deterioration.
Health
visitors
It was amongst health visitors that under-manning was most marked in the
transferred health services. There is a nation-wide shortage of health visitors and
this shortage was acute in certain areas of London where working conditions are
unattractive and the housing shortage very acute, with the result that the health
visitor has to live a long way from her district. Recruitment of health visitors on a
service basis for London as a whole was commenced immediately the Council took
charge of the services and this should have a beneficial effect on the position in the
unattractive areas. It is, however, too early as yet to assess the results. In an effort
to deal with the root cause of the problem, namely the general shortage of qualified
health visitors, the Council set up a scheme for the training of health visitors which is
being worked in co-operation with the King's College of Household and Social Science.
Twenty-five students embarked on a year's theoretical and practical training
during which they were paid at three-quarters of the commencing salary of a
qualified health visitor. A Health Visitor Tutor was appointed to supervise the
field training. The scheme provides that, if the students are successful in the
examination for the Health Visitor Certificate, they will give the Council at least
six months' service as health visitor immediately following qualification.
No general shortage of staff existed in the transferred Day Nursery Service.
Here the most important task was to maintain the efforts of the borough councils to
raise the standard of training of many of the existing personnel, particularly in the
lower grades. Frequent periodical courses in child care have been arranged for
nursery assistants by the Council's Education Department and all such staff are
being sent on these courses in turn. Courses for the training of nursery wardens
have also been held.
Domestic
staff
Almost all of the transferred domestic staff were employed on the conditions of
service of the Joint Industrial Council for Local Authorities Non-Trading services
(manual workers). In October, 1948, a 44-hour week (as against 47 previously) was
introduced for all grades of staff within the purview of the Joint Industrial Council.
This reduction in hours came at a time when the Council was still fresh to the working
of the transferred services but, on the whole, the change-over was effected smoothly
and with very little increase of staff or working of overtime.
Home help
service
Recruiting in the rapidly expanding Home Help Service continued to be very
successful, mainly in the field of part-time workers. In an effort to improve the
quality of the work, the Council consulted the National Institute of House-Workers
Limited and as a first step it was decided that the Institute should test a representative
number of workers whose standard was considered to be comparatively high with a
view to the award of the Institute's Diploma to those who were found satisfactory.
Considerable progress along these lines had been made by the end of the year.
Medical
examination
of staff
The number of references to the department for medical examination or advice
concerning the health of staff and the fitness of candidates for appointment totalled
14,689 compared with 16,840 in 1947, the reduction of work being due to the transfer
of the Council's hospitals to the Minister of Health on 5th July, 1948, under the
National Health Service Act, 1946.
Reciprocal arrangements with provincial authorities for the examination locally
of new entrants were continued. Provincial Medical Officers of Health arranged
examination for 9 entrants to the Council's service and the Council's medical officers
examined 23 persons for provincial appointment.
The Council's staff medical examiners made 50 home visits to examine members
of the staff who were unable to travel.