View report page

Selection of cases for hospital confinement for social reasons.
Source of Request No. of requests received
1965 1966 1967
Hospital in N.W. Met. Region 3 39 50
Hospital in N.E. Met. Region 174 267 303
Gen. Prac. Obst. 48 84 97
Local Auth. Clinics 116 267 158
London Teaching Hosp. - — -
Totals 341 657 610
Of the 610 investigated 395 were referred to hospital, 194 booked for home confinement and 21
moved out of the area.
Midwives continue to work in the ante-natal surgeries of 15 general practitioner obstetricians.
Student Midwife Training
Progress was made in training midwives when the Council in co-operation with the Tottenham
Hospital Management Committee altered, decorated and furnished the top floor of a former nurses' home
in St. Ann's Hospital. The student midwives' hostel was opened on 1.3.67 with 6 students and at the
June term was able to accommodate 12 students.
Students are taken from the Alexandra Maternity Home, the North Middlesex Hospital, and the
Whittington Hospital, each student being attached to a teaching midwife. There are 4 terms in the year
aseach district training period is the last 3 months of the one year's midwifery training. Each student
has already obtained her S.R.N. There were 47 students trained, 11 are still in training. 43 were
successful in obtaining the S.C.M. The remaining 4 were re-sitting the examination in 1968.
HEALTH VISITING SERVICE
Recruitment of experienced members of staff to fill the vacancies within the establishment during
the year, again proved to be unsuccessful. This failure of recruitment is a matter of grave concern,
especially as four health visitors have reached retirement age, whilst others are approaching the age of
retirement.
In spite of the heavy case loads and the day-to-day ever increasing demands made upon health
visitors' time, requests for students from other agencies, who are anxious to observe and learn something
of the local authority health services are constantly being made and met. In conjunction with the
EnfieldTechnical College, child care officer students spent three days with the health visitors, visiting
families and observing the services provided in the clinics. This new venture proved successful and
it is anticipated wiII be repeated in future years. Child care officers and health visitors frequently
need to consult and this kind of co-operation during training is of value to both.
Student nurses from the Prince of Wales's and Middlesex Hospitals also spent three days observing
the various services provided by the local authority. The student nurse gains an insight into the
Personal Health Service and because of this experience may decide to enter the health visiting service
in the future. The actual number of visits made by health visitors this year was as shown in the
following table:-
Number of visits paid by Health Visitors working in the Borough
Expectant Mothers First visits 1524
Total visits 2351
Children under 1 year of age First visits 6090
Total visits 12449
Children aged 1 - 2 years Total visits 11063
Children aged 2-5 years Total visits 17838
Other cases - Total visits as Health Visitor 2787
- Total visits as School Nurse 103
58