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HEALTH VISITING
Health Visitors are State Registered Nurses who have taken either Part 1 of the Midwifery
qualification or are State Certified Midwives, and who have then taken a further course of training
and examination for the Health Visitor's Certificate. As will be seen, they are highly qualified and
widely experienced officers.
The Section comprises a Superintendent Health Visitor, a Deputy Superintendent Health
Visitor, two Group Advisers and an establishment of 42 Health Visitors, but this figure has never
been reached due to the national shortage of Health Visitors. The Council sponsors up to five
Student Health Visitors per annum for training. In order to relieve Health Visitors of activities not
requiring their special qualifications, Clinic Nurses who are State Registered Nurses, undertake the
routine procedures in respect of school medical inspections and infant welfare clinics, etc. In 1969
there were 29 Health Visitors, 14 Clinic Nurses (some part-time) and 4 Students on the staff.
The role of the Health Visitor has been changing in recent years. She now devotes a considerable
part of her time to health education in clinics, homes and schools and also gives social advice,
working in close conjunction with the other social services in the department and elsewhere. The
Superintendent Health Visitor gives a course of lectures on environmental health to the student
nurses at Queen Mary's Hospital School of Nursing and the student nurses spend a day with a
Health Visitor in the community as part of their training.
The Health Visitors undertake preliminary home investigation of cases of infectious disease,
other than tuberculosis, which gives them access to families they may otherwise never meet in
their professional capacity. In the case of tuberculosis, the system adopted by Kent County
Council whereby a Health Visitor was attached to each Chest Clinic solely to undertake domiciliary
supervision and health education, was continued until 1968. Two Health Visitors were
seconded for this work, one serving Erith and the other at Queen Mary's Hospital. Since the
retirement of Miss Harvey in 1968, the remaining Tuberculosis Health Visitor serves both clinics
with assistance from the district Health Visitors.
Due to the shortage of Health Visitors, it has not been possible to attach a Health Visitor to
every medical practice in the Borough, but co-operation is encouraged between the general practitioners
and the Health Visitors whose services are available to any doctor on request. One large
practice holds a "well-baby" clinic twice a week. This is very popular and the numbers attending
require the attendance of two Health Visitors at each session. Full use is not yet being made by all
general practitioners of the assistance available from Health Visitors.
At three senior girls' schools, the Health Visitors give a course of lectures as part of the school
curriculum, covering such matters as parentcraft, dangers of smoking, personal hygiene, etc.
The majority of Bexley Health Visitors have been trained in the early detection of deafness and
other of the less obvious handicapping disabilities of babies and infants, so that further investigation
and in appropriate cases, treatment, can be carried out as appropriate, as early as possible.
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