View report page

19
Sterilized maternity outfits are available to all expectant mothers, except
those who have booked a hospital bed for their confinement. Gas and Air
and Trilene analgesia is available for confinements. Pupil midwives
attended during the year to undertake their training in preparation for
Part 2 of the examination of the Central Midwives Board. Last year the
midwives attended the confinements of 973 women in their homes.
Home Nursing.
The Area has an establishment of 23 home nurses, who work under
the instruction of the general practitioners responsible for the patient.
They carry out treatment such as the general nursing care of the acute and
chronic sick, blanket baths, injections, etc., and are supervised by the
Area Superintendent of Home Nurses. By arrangement with the British
Red Cross Society certain items of nursing equipment are made available
on loan to patients being nursed at home. The Red Cross depot in this
Area is at 39 Sheepcote Road, telephone number Harrow 8788. The
number of nurses employed during the year amounted to an equivalent
of 21 whole-time staff. During the year they paid in all 60,699 visits.
Health Visiting.
The Area has an establishment of 268/11 health visitors, but due to
the national shortage has been working with a whole-time equivalent of 19.
The shortage has been offset to some extent by employing clinic nurses,
who can carry out some of the less specialised duties in the clinics and
schools and so allow the health visitors to carry out their important
educational and social work in the home.
Vaccination and Immunisation.
Facilities for vaccination against smallpox and immunisation against
diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and poliomyelitis, are available at
all clinics or through the General Medical Practitioner Service. Every
°PP°rtunity is taken by the health staff to encourage parents to have the
children protected against these diseases, and what is just as important, to
ensure that the protection is kept at a high level. All booster, or reinforcing
oses, are given at the appropriate time.
Sabin Vaccine.
As forecast in the report for 1961, the Ministry of Health, in accordance
with the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Poliomyelitis
Vaccine, made live oral vaccine available for routine vaccination against
poliomyelitis early in 1962. This oral vaccine contains living attenuated
poliomyelitis viruses of types 1, 2 and 3, and the human dose is contained
in 3 drops.