View report page

we saw 44 patients. Naturally such a short period and small number does not
allow us to draw any conclusions yet. We feel, nevertheless, that the clinic
plays an important part in prevention and also gives a good opportunity for staff
to meet the patients and to discuss some of their problems in an informal way.
HEALTH VISITING
Present Staff:-
Superintendent Health Visitor
Deputy Superintendent Health Visitor
Fieldwork Instructors 2
Health Visitors 19 full-time (establishment - 48)
2 part-time
Nurses 12 full-time
10 part-time
The outstanding feature in this field is the shortage of qualified health
visitors. Clinic nurses who meet the requirements are encouraged to train. Of
those at present employed, three have made application for health visitor
training.
Fieldwork Instructors
Two appointments have been made from among existing staff. The recommendations
of the Council for the Training of Health Visitors include the reduction
of their present case load, in order to concentrate on the training of students.
Instructors will attend a two-week course arranged by the Royal College of
Nursing.
Health Visiting
Health visitors have been seeking to keep up their commitment of home
visits, on a more selective basis than previously. Certain cases take priority,
which often means that toddlers are not followed up as adequately as they should
be. It is in this age group that the less obvious deviations from normal
development may be revealed.
The health visitor is primarily a nurse, engaged in preventive medicine.
Over the past years, having regard to the family environment in which the child
is reared, she has of necessity accumulated more social work than is envisaged
for the future; and that it is right for her to shed in some measure is obvious
by the amount of untouched work in her own sphere.
Whereas previously the health visitor was concerned with the advice to
parents on the adequate care of their children, to-day more emphasis is put on
the whole potential of the child, and the possibility of promoting normal
development. Since the introduction of "at risk" registers, in which is noted
any condition of family health which might affect the development of a child
before or soon after birth, the health visitor needs to direct her powers of
observation based on sound knowledge in order to detect any early signs of
defect, and to encourage further investigation and treatment. Post-graduate
instruction of health visitors has become much more detailed in the assessment
of child development in relation to minimal brain damage, and vision and hearing
defects. All the present health visitors have attended courses on the testing
of hearing in the young child, chiefly at Gray's Inn Hospital.
28