London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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London County Council 1958

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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HOME NURSING SERVICE Details of the work done by the 26 voluntary grant-aided district nursing associations who acted as agents for the Council are given below: Table (i)—Staff

194919541955195619571958
Total number of nurses employed at end of year410558572584614540
Full time equivalent of nurses employed361508512538567496
Number of trained district nursesNotNot321327389468
Number of state enrolled assistant nursesrecordedrecorded36353031
Number of male nurses49384041

Table (ii)—Types of case nursed and visits paid

Type of caseNumber of patients nursedPercentage of totalAverage number of visits to each patientTotal visits
Medical52,22284.1301,563,599
Surgical5,9379.636211,261
Infectious diseases1420.26907
Tuberculous1,3952.25171,012
Maternal complications8621.486,710
Others1,5582.52640,064
62,116100.0301,893,553

The total visits for 1957 and 1956 were 1,991,621 and 1,962,733 respectively.

Table (iii)—Visits for general treatment and for injections

Visits forAt patients' homesElsewhere (e.g.,Nurses' Homes)Percentage of total visits
Injections only856,84033,92347
Injections plus other treatment111,5552596
Other treatment only890,54043647
1,858,93534,618100

During 1958 visits for injections only fell by 3% compared with 1957 and for other
treatments rose correspondingly.

Table (iv)—Long term cases [i.e., those visited more than 24 times during the year)

NumberPercentage of total patients nursed
11,76918.9

Percentage of long term cases shows a reduction from 21.7 for 1957.

Table (v)—Age distribution of patients

AgeNumber of patientsPercentage of total
0-5 years2,5764
5-64 years27,16444
65 years and over32,39452
62,116100

Percentage of aged rose slightly compared with 1957.
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