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12
be admitted that protection against whooping cough is not so
certain as against diphtheria. Nevertheless, a scheme which offers
protection for the greatest proportion of the children must surely
be worth while. Whooping cough can be one of the most distressing
of the complaints of childhood and it is hoped that as increasing
numbers are protected against the disease there will be the same
satisfactory reduction in the incidence of the disease as was
experienced with regard to diphtheria. The actual numbers of
children immunised during the year and a review of the results
achieved by diphtheria immunisation is included on page 21 & 22.
The staffing of the centres has been a matter which has caused
some concern, and in view of the shortage of Health Visitors a
scheme for training student health visitors has been inaugurated.
By the end of the year, four students had been appointed, one to
start duty on the 1st January, 1948 and the other three in April.
The students are taken for a period of six months during which
they attend an approved course of training organised by the
National Health Society. During this period the students receive
half the pay of a health visitor. The advantage of the scheme to
the Council lies in the fact that the students are required to give
an undertaking to continue in the service of the Council for a
further period of twelve months after they have qualified. They
will then, of course, receive the full salary of a health visitor.
To provide additional help at the health centres on the afternoons
when the welfare sessions are held and to release some of the
health visitors for home visiting, a number of trained nurses
without the Health Visitors Certificate, have been engaged on a
part-time basis. These clinic nurses, as they are called, are able
to weigh the children, leaving the trained health visitors free to
give advice generally. The increase in the number of staff has
warranted the appointment of a superintendent health visitor, this
position being recommended for a staff of ten or more health
visitors. The new superintendent commenced her duties in
December.
With a view to decreasing the time expectant mothers have
to wait for examination at the ante-natal clinics, a system of
timed appointments has been started. While this experiment has
not proved a solution in preventing waiting it merits continuance,
as it does to some extent reduce periods of waiting. In April,
extended facilities for the purchase of dried milk were begun.
Later in the year, other food products of special value in infant
feeding were also made available at cost price. While there is
considered opinion against converting the infant welfare centre
into a chemist's shop, the present-day shortages make it obvious
that additional supplies of essential foods available in the centres,
will help to ensure that the mothers can obtain supplies as required.