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Home Helps were provided for 74 patients confined at home
during the year, as compared with 25 in 1945.
12 were provided free of charge.
12 were provided at one-sixth full charge.
10 were provided at one-third full charge.
10 were provided at one-half full charge.
13 were provided at two-thirds full charge.
6 were provided at five-sixths full charge.
11 were provided at full charge.
It will be noted that demands on the Home Help Service very
definitely increased during the year. The number of Home Helps
available for employment also rose, from one full-time helper at the
end of 1945 to four at the end of 1946. In spite of this latter increase,
it was not always possible to meet calls on the Home Help Service,
although every effort was invariably made to do so, including on
several occasions the utilisation of the services of Helpers in the
Domestic Help Service.
Now that maternity cases are being discharged at an earlier date
from hospital— a practice which will presumably be continued, at
least for some time to come—and housing conditions show no
immediate promise of betterment, the need for a Home Help following
confinement is more than ever apparent. During the year, letters
were addressed to all women's organisations and churches in the
Borough, asking them to assist us in our search for additional Home
Helps. The local Employment Exchange also has a standing order
to send any women interested in this work along to us. Yet another
attempt was made to secure additional helpers by the circulation of
the specially printed leaflet, "New Career for Women." These
efforts have been partly successful, but we could still do with more
women of the right type to undertake this very necessary social
service. The uses to which a full-time organiser could be put in
establishing personal contact have already been indicated.
Apart from the Home Help supplied to women confined at
home or discharged from hospital within a few days of delivery,
assistance is also provided, within the limit of our resources, to
women who spend a full fortnight after delivery in a hospital or
nursing home. In these cases full-time assistance is very often not
required, although part-time help is appreciated and eases the
immediate burden.
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