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PERSONAL HEALTH
Ancillary Help
Experience has shown that a large number of visits solely for the bathing of
patients can be undertaken by less skilled staff working under the supervision
of home nurses, and during the year the number of nursing auxiliaries
employed to undertake this work was increased to one full-time and six
part-time staff. This arrangement continued to work very well, but the
number of auxiliaries employed is still inadequate and does not yet permit
full advantage to be gained from the scheme.
District Training
Courses at North Western Polytechnic continued to be used for the district
training of our home nurses. Two nurses usually attend at a time and
receive the practical part of their training in Enfield under the general supervision
of the Superintendent of the Home Nursing Service and the day-to-day
direction of three of our home nurses who have been trained as practical
work instructors.
Training of Staff of
other Agencies
As part of their training student nurses from the three major local hospitals
and the Middlesex Hospital continued to accompany home nurses on visits
to patients.
In addition, lectures on the home nursing service continued to be given
periodically by the Superintendent of the Home Nursing Service to student
nurses at the hospitals.
Vaccination and Immunisation
Section 26,
National Health Service
Act, 1946
Vaccination and immunisation are provided jointly by the general medical
practitioner and local health authority services under Section 26 of the
National Health Service Act 1946. Every local health authority is required
under the Act to make arrangements with medical practitioners for the
vaccination of persons in the area of the authority against smallpox, and
immunisation against diphtheria.
The Minister of Health subsequently approved immunisation against whooping
cough, poliomyelitis, tetanus and measles as well as vaccination against
anthrax of workers in specified industries, but there are no such workers
known to be at risk in the borough.
In July authorisation was received from the Department of Health and Social
Security for vaccination against rubella to be offered to all girls between
their eleventh and fourteenth birthdays, priority being given initially to girls
in their fourteenth year. The purpose of this campaign is to ensure that
girls are offered protection against rubella before reaching child-bearing
age, in view of the known association between certain foetal abnormalities
and rubella infection in pregnancy.
Accordingly, 300 girls were vaccinated against rubella by the end of the
year and consents had been received from the parents of a further 1,200
girls to be vaccinated early in 1971.
In the case of persons under sixteen years of age a total of 9,228 primary
courses of immunisation against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis,
measles and rubella were given, of which 2,936 were undertaken
by general medical practitioners and 6,292 by the Council's medical officers.
Of the total number of 13,610 reinforcing doses, 3,745 were given by general
medical practitioners and 9,865 by the Council's medical officers. With
regard to smallpox, general medical praotitioners undertook 1,129 primary
vaccinations and 978 re-vaccinations of persons under the age of sixteen
years, compared with 667 primary vaccinations and 964 re-vaccinations by
the Council's medical officers.
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