View report page

126
THE HEALTH VISITOR.
(Report by Dr. Mary Gilchrist)
Recently there has been much controversy about the function
of the Health Visitor, and the training and experience she should
have. Some have gone so far as to state that she should not be a State
Registered Nurse, should have a minimum of nursing training,
and go on to a University for a Social Science Course and then
become the "Social Worker" visitor in an area. Those who
advocate this course have lost sight of the " universal " function of
the health visitor.
The health visitor goes to every home where a newly-notified
birth has been recorded, and it is her duty to follow up that child
until it enters school; and then, if she does combined duties under
the National Health Service Act and the Education Act, she will
continue to see the child in school. She should be the guide,
philosopher and friend of the parent and the child. She gains her
entry to the home primarily because she can help the mother with
the management of the child's physical needs. Nowadays, with
small families the rule rather than the exception, many young
mothers have no previous experience of handling a young infant,
and they are greatly helped by the reassurance which the experienced
health visitor can give. All Training and Refresher Courses for
health visitors now emphasise the importance (for future mental
health) of the proper handling of the young infant emotionally, and
this aspect of their work is likely to grow in importance as its
significance becomes more widely appreciated.
What has to be realised by the administrator and teacher,
outside of the actual field of work of the health visitor, is that only a
very small proportion of the visiting deals with problem families
(except in an exceptionally bad social-problem area of a town). It is
known that these families take up a disproportionate amount of the
health visitor's time, but the greatest contribution is really made in
preventing her " border line " families from becoming fully developed
problem families, and her contact with this group is made primarily
because she is a nurse. The social worker can deal only with the
developed case and rehabilitation, but the health visitor is the
preventive worker, and I cannot see how a social worker can take
her place in this respect.