London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Shoreditch 1934
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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70
Home Helps.
Home helps are provided from a panel of approximately 14 women who have
been approved for this duty by the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee. At
the end of the year 1933 there were 12 home helps on the panel and at the end of
1934, 14. During the year these women attended, to assist with the housework,
etc., 125 cases, of which 83 were conducted by midwives, 3 by private practitioners,
20 by students at the City of London Maternity Hospital, 17 by students at
St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 1 by a student from the Royal Free Hospital and one
by St. Leonard's Hospital.
The women on the panel are specially selected for this duty and they work according
to rules which have been drawn up to regulate their duties, and to prevent the
possibility of a home help in any circumstances acting as a nurse. A printed copy
of these rules is supplied to the home help and also to the woman she will attend.
Application for the services of a home help is made by the husband and the charge
is based on a scale of income, reference to which is made in the annual report for
1933, page 128.
Under the arrangement with St. Bartholomew's Hospital all patients who are
to be attended by the hospital students are offered the services of a home help if
their income is under scale.
POST-NATAL WORK.
This clinic was established in 1931, and the following table gives particulars of the first attendances and total visits for the year over a period of four years:—
| Year. | First visits by nursing mothers. | Total attendances. | Average attendance per individual. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | 36 | 69 | 1.92 |
| 1932 | 176 | 290 | 1.65 |
| 1933 | 152 | 287 | 1.89 |
| 1934 | 151 | 286 | 1.89 |
This clinic continues to fulfil a very, necessary function.
During the year of writing (1935) a gynaecological clinic was opened for the
diagnosis of gynæcological conditions and treatment of other minor ailments of this
type. There is no doubt that this work is of preventive value so far as future
pregnancies are concerned. A fuller account of the work of this clinic will appear
in the annual report for 1935.