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were a "Welfare Authority," could not so readily be achieved now that
responsibility for maternity services is split between the Regional
Hospital Board and the County Council.
HEALTH VISITING
The first "Lady Health Inspector" in Barking was appointed
in 1907, and by the time my predecessor took office 25 years ago your
staff consisted of three health visitors, two school nurses and one dental
nurse. With the rapid expansion of the Borough and of the standard of
service provided the establishment was further increased. Today it
includes 12 health visitors (who combine their duties with those of
school nurse), 4 dental nurses and attendants, and 18 part-time clinic
nurses who relieve the health visitors of routine duties in the clinics.
The introduction of the National Health Service Act has led to great
changes in the duties and responsibilities of health visitors. Previously
their duties lay primarily with mothers, young babies and school
children, whilst they were also responsible for the supervision of children
under the Child Life Protection Enactments. The latter duties were
transferred to newly created Children's Officers by the children Act,
1948, a change which health visitors regard for the worse. The National
Health Service Act, however, broadened the responsibilities of the health
visitor to include all members of the family. This has focussed attention
on the need for close co-operation with general practitjners who
themselves, for the first time, became able to deal with the damily as a
whole. Slow but steady progress has been made in this rirection to
which reference is made elsewhere. It is also pleasant to record that
co-operation with hospitals has improved likewise. Many more
references and enquiries are now received from hospit. almoners,
and we receive much more information concerning the discharge from
hospital of patients requiring after-care, so that the health visitors
now devote more time to hospital follow-up work. on the whole
attendances at clinics have tended to fall following the ntroduction
of the National Health Service, but since those most in need of advice
are often those who never attended clinics in the past, or those who
through age or infirmity cannot do so, it can only be to the good if
health visitors have available more time in which to carry out home
visits.
After five years the position of the Health Visitor in he National
Health Service is still far from settled. There has been an unfortunate
tendency to multiply the number of visitors going into the home
(e.g. newly created children's visitors, welfare visitors) and it is my
belief that the Health Visitor should become the " general practitioner"
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