London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1949
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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56
Child Life
Protection
By arrangement with the Children's Officer, who did not take up his duties
until the Spring, I have continued to be responsible for duties under Part XIII of
the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, as amended by Part V of the Children Act,
1948. The visiting of foster-children and the inspection of the premises in which
these children are living have, therefore, continued to be undertaken by health
visitors, designated as child protection visitors. Towards the end of the year, 575
foster-children were being supervised under these arrangements.
HOME NURSING
The Home Nursing Service is provided on the Council's behalf by the voluntary
nursing associations in the county, the Central Council for District Nursing in
London acting as the liaison and advisory body and distributing the Council's
grant to the individual associations.
The service has been subjected to considerable pressure, necessitating the
recruitment of additional staff during the year. This has been largely due to the
increasing number of aged and chronic sick and tuberculous persons being nursed
at home owing to the difficulty in obtaining admission to hospitals or sanatoria.
1,087,226 visits were made during the year compared with 453,222 visits from 5th
July to 31st December, 1948.
The principal details of work done by the District Nursing Associations on
behalf of the Council during the year were:—
| Health Division | Population | Treatments | No. of completed treatments per 1,000 population | Total visits | Total visits per 1,000 population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commenced, | Completed | |||||
| 1 | 469,930 | 5,532 | 6,079 | 12.9 | 134,252 | 285.7 |
| 2 | 553,930 | 5,598 | 5,592 | 10.1 | 152,064 | 274.5 |
| 3 | 301,330 | 2,420 | 2,584 | 8.6 | 68,234 | 226.4 |
| 4 | 265,020 | 3,133 | 3,251 | 12.3 | 85,592 | 323.0 |
| 5 | 239,380 | 2,637 | 2,526 | 10.6 | 99,891 | 417.3 |
| 6 | 314,300 | 3,346 | 3,366 | 10.7 | 122,670 | 390.3 |
| 7 | 406,210 | 4,325 | 4,444 | 10.9 | 144,226 | 355.1 |
| 8 | 387,000 | 5,016 | 5,039 | 13.0 | 150,335 | 388.5 |
| 9 | 452,750 | 4,728 | 4,974 | 11.0 | 129,962 | 287.1 |
| Totals | 3,389,850 | 36,735 | 37,855 | 11.2 | 1,087,226 | 320.7 |
It will be noted that home nursing per unit of the population varies between
divisions. Visits to patients are relatively more numerous in certain divisions, but
it is not at present possible to say whether divisional differences are due to
variations in the incidence of chronic sickness or to the numbers of staff available.
There were 37,855 treatments (series of visits to individual patients) completed,
leaving 5,959 patients in nursing care at the end of the year. The total number of
nurses at the end of the year was 307 whole-time, and 103 part-time, a whole-time
equivalent of 361. The average case load per nurse at any one time was 16 to 17
patients, and each nurse made an average of 11 visits per day.
Analysis of completed treatments is shown in Table 38 (p. 144) in which the
percentages given are of the total number of cases treated during the year. In the
early part of the year the information given was not sufficient to classify the
conditions treated under the heading of a specific disease in 14 per cent, of the cases,
but towards the end of the year a greater appreciation by the nurses of the use to
which the records were being put, led to a decline in the numbers of unclassified
cases. It is noteworthy, taking both sexes together, that 52 per cent, of all cases