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HEALTH VISITING
Even before 1948 there was a shortage of health visitors and the National Health Service
Act, 1946, which laid new responsibilities on local health authorities, considerably
broadened the scope of the health visitor's work. Her functions now covered the care and
welfare of the family as a whole, not solely the expectant and nursing mother and the child
under five, as had been the case in London before 5 July, 1948. The new spirit of social
service added depth to her work and gave her the opportunity to enlarge her outlook and
widen her experience and her value to the community.
Even without a shortage of health visitors, redeployment would have been necessary
in the new situation, so that the health visitor could use her special skills to the greatest
advantage. Selective visiting has also enabled her to allocate more time to the families
most in need of the help and support which she can give. Group working has enabled
problems to be shared, language and religious difficulties to be met more easily and has
provided continuity of staff during sickness and leave.
For over fifty years most of the home visiting and medical follow-up of children attending
the Council's schools has been undertaken by voluntary children's care committee workers,
trained and organised by social workers employed in the education and public health
departments. A continuing aim is the association of the health visitor with the voluntary
worker in the care of the schoolchild.
Home visits 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964
First visits this year to:
Children under 1 55,226 60,995 67,829 68,661 (a) 68,065
Children 1-5 369,122 379,793 375,543 222,643 (b) 196,914
Persons aged 65 or over 14,350 14,772 15,526 7,945 (b) 6,571
Mentally disordered persons - - - 1,893 (c) 1,385
Persons discharged from hospital (other
than mental hospital) - - - 2,894 (c) 2,049
Infectious households (other than T.B.) - - - 2,804 (c) 1,007
Unsuccessful visits 104,014 111,958 117,113 139,871 146,201
Total visits 838,990 878,767 891,079 822,517 851,646
(a) Since 1963 figures relate to children born in the same year.
(b) Since 1963 first visits are shown, i.e. number of persons visited; for earlier years the figures relate to
total visits.
(c) Not available for previous years.
e
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