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134
New Health Centre 2.
It will be observed from the foregoing table that the estimated attendances at Health Centre (2)
are 61,755. 43,735 of these are the concern of the whole-time medical staff, the remaining 18,020
being dealt with by specialists, or nurses or other non-medical workers as follows:—
Concerning the whole-time medical staff—
Cleansing 96 attendances.
Throat, nose and ear conditions 2,868 ,,
Minor ailments 11,879 „
14,843
Expectant mothers 4,136 ,,
Nursing mothers 9,664 ,,
Infant Welfare 15,092 ,,
43,735
Concerning others—
Eye conditions dealt with by the Council's Oculist 1,541 attendances.
Skin conditions dealt with by the Council's Dermatologist 354 ,,
Artificial sunlight dealt with by the Council's Dermatologist
and Nurse 2,542 „
School for Mothers dealt with mainly by the Health visitor in
charge and only occasionally by the whole-time medical staff 1,327
Nursery dealt with by the nurse-attendant 1,275
Miscellaneous attendances dealt with by various non-medical
workers 10,981 „
18,020
Cleansing, Throat, Nose and Ear Conditions and Minor Ailments—The whole-time medical
staff would see 30 per cent. of the total of 14,843 attendances—or 4,453 attendances—made in respect
of cleansing, throat, nose and ear conditions and minor ailments, the time allotted being 5 minutes
per attendance. (Note.—In 1937 the time taken to each such attendance was 4¾
minutes.) 4,453
attendances at 5 minutes per attendance will therefore occupy 371 hours of a doctor's time per annum.
Expectant Mothers.—4,136 attendances in respect of expectant mothers would be made and
all these attendances would require to be seen by the doctor. 10 minutes per attendance is allowed.
(Note.—In 1937 the average time given to an expectant mother by a doctor was 7½
minutes. But this
was too short and I have accordingly increased the time to 10 minutes.) This means that 4,136 x 10
minutes or 689 hours of a doctor's time per annum are required.
Nursing Mothers.—9,664 attendances are made and 60 per cent. of these—or 5,798 attendances—
would require to be seen by the whole-time medical staff. 6 minutes is the item allotted per attendance.
Therefore the total item required is 5,798 x 6 minutes or 580 hours of a doctor's time per annum.
Infant Welfare.—15,092 attendances would be made and 60 per cent. of these—or 9,055 attendances—would
require to be seen by the whole-time medical staff. 6 minutes is the time allotted per
attendance. Therefore the total time required is 9,055 x 6 minutes or 905 hours of a doctor's time
per annum.
Note.—Nursing Mothers and Infant Welfare—In the two preceding paragraphs 6 minutes is
allowed per patient. This will enable a doctor to see an average of 30 patients in an afternoon of
3 hours. The following table shows the work actually done by each doctor in 1937 from which it will
be seen that 39.9 patients were seen on the average at each session and that 4½ minutes was the time
given. This number of patients is too many for a doctor to deal with adequately and the time allowed
is too short.