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Midwifery and Home Nursing Service.
Almost all the midwifery attendance at home confinements
and the general nursing in the District are provided by the midwives
and district nurses appointed by the County Council. The equivalent
of just over 20 whole-time nurses is employed in this Division
but changes in the personnel occur each year, while, as they are part
of a County Service, their services are not limited by local District
boundaries and a system of reliefs operates over a wider area.
While the amount of 'cover' and the conditions of service of the
individual nurses have improved since the institution of the
National Health Service, there is unfortunately less close association
between the residents and their district nurse than there was
previously and less acceptance of direct responsibility for her well
being.
The demands on the Midwives have varied considerably since
1948, but have been on the increase in recent years.
As would be expected, with an ageing population the amount
of District Nursing has steadily increased, while the greater number
of persons being treated by injections of anti-biotics and the shortage
of hospital accommodation for the elderly are additional factors
involving still greater demands.
The following figures give an idea of the amount of work done
in 1957 in this Division, of which about two-thirds relates to
Coulsdon and Purley
The Midwives delivered 475 cases and attended 92 other
maternity cases, while the General Nurses paid 24,929 visits to
medical cases, 5,860 to surgical cases, 2,602 to the tuberculous and
712 visits for a variety of other conditions, making a total of
34,103 visits, an increase of 322 compared with 1956.
Home Help Service.
This Service began locally on a small scale some 30 years ago
initially to help mothers at the time of their confinements, but it
grew rapidly during the war when its scope was widened. These
Helps can only be provided in genuine cases of ill-health or old
age and, as their number is limited by the supply of suitable
women willing to undertake this work, the amount of help which
can be provided has to be varied according to the physical and
social circumstances of the applicants.
Applications should be made to the Home Help Supervisor,
whose responsibility it is to make the day to day arrangements, at
115 Brighton Road, Purley (UPLands 7014 or 9277) if possible
between 9.30 and 10.30 a.m.
During 1957, on the average the equivalent of just over 40
whole-time Home Helps were employed in the Division; this at
times necessitated the engagement of as many as 63 part or whole
time Helps. A total of 1,032 cases were assisted, (i.e. 301
maternity, 17 tuberculous, 398 chronic sick, aged or infirm and
316 acute cases) this being easily the highest number dealt with
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