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HEALTH VISITING AND NURSING SERVICES

* The true percentage is somewhat less, but it is not practicable to exclude from the year's figures a small number of
immigrants and of children visited in 1956 but born in 1955.
Included in the figures given in the above table for 1956 there were 3,426 visits to
premature babies, and 18,777 visits to problem families.
The continuing national shortage of health visitors has led to redeployment of staff
to ensure that the health visitor is able to use her special skills to the greatest advantage.
Selective visiting has enabled the health visitor to allocate more time to the families
most in need of the help and support which she can give them. Group working by
health visitors enables problems to be shared and makes it easier to meet language or
religious difficulties and ensures continuity when staff are absent through sickness or
annual leave.
Home visiting and medical follow-up of children attending the Council's schools has
for the last forty-nine years been undertaken by voluntary children's care committee
workers, trained and organised by social workers employed in the Education Officer's
and public health departments. To an appreciable degree the health visiting service has
been integrated with the school nursing service. In December 1954, 275 members of the
staff were engaged on combined health visiting and school nursing duties. In 1955 and
1956 the figures rose to 283 and 327 respectively. This is a continuing aim as is the closer
association of health visitors with voluntary workers in the care of school children.
Tuberculosis
visitors
Training of
student health
visitors
Details of the duties and work of the Council s tuberculosis health visitors are
described in the report on tuberculosis on page 26.
Details of the Council's scheme for training student health visitors are given on
page 127.
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