London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Harrow 1965
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
This page requires JavaScript
33
The department participated in this tollow-up survey, questionnaires
being completed by Health Visitors and full medical examinations were
carried out on each child by the school doctors. A total of 53 children
living in the Borough were included in this second study.
Section 25—Home Nursing
The home nursing staff, consisting of 26 nurses equivalent to 23 wholetime
staff, completed another busy year, carrying out a total of 59,971
visits. The nurses work under instruction from the general practitioners
and carry out general nursing duties with the acute and chronic sick in
their homes.
The following table will give some idea of the type of illness involving the above visits.
| Category | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical | 558 | 1,258 | 1,816 |
| Surgical | 91 | 44 | 135 |
| Tuberculosis | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Maternal complica | — | — | — |
| tions | 24 | 24 | |
| Other | 2 | — | 2 |
| Total | 654 | 1,330 | 1,984 |
(i) Total number of persons nursed during year 1,984
(ii) Number of persons under 5 years old at first visit 56
(iii) Number of persons 65 years or over at first visit 1,308
(iv) Total number of visits made during the year 59,971
(v) Number of visits of over one hour's duration 1,750
The service involves the nursing care of all age-groups, but by far the
greatest number of cases lie in the elderly group suffering from chronic
ill-health. Many of the visits to this group are for general nursing care and
the nurse's visit to this type of case is not only good for the patient but
also of great moral benefit to relatives.
Valuable assistance is received from the St. John's Ambulance Brigade
and the British Red Cross, whose volunteers have taken over on occasions
some of the routine nursing duties in certain cases.
Marie Curie Foundation
The Department acts as agents for the night nursing service provided
by the Foundation. This is made use of in terminal cases of malignancy
and there is no doubt about the fact that this service is greatly appreciated
by the relatives concerned. The relief given during the night does offer
them some respite from the constant nursing care this type of case requires.