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
East Ham 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for East Ham]
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SECTION 24 - HEALTH VISITING SERVICE
Reference must be made to trends In the health visiting service which
marches in step with progress In modern pediatrics.
Great stress is laid on a more Informed approach to child care, and
mothers are advised on the handling of their little ones, especially infants
with problems associated with emotional and psychological development, as
well as their physical nurture. To this end and to ensure from the beginning
good relationship between mother and child, a system of ante-natal
instruction classes has been started, in which selected mothers are given
ante-natal exercises designed as a preparation for easier childbirth, and
detailed instruction in breast-feeding, early care of the infant, and the
founding of good relations.
In the clinics the mechanistic approach to child birth is not stressed
so much as It was a decade or so ago, and each expectant mother is regarded
not as a piece of machinery destined to expel a foetus at the end of the
gestation period, but as a creative being with emotions to be played out,
fears to be stilled, and hopes to be fulfilled.
The health visitor also is playing a greater part In the co-operation
with the hospitals, especially in the follow-up of patients discharged, and
the rendering to the physician of reports on patients giving valuable details
of social background, environment, developmental difficulties, and constitutional
disturbances which often have a great bearing on treatment.
Lastly more time must be found for the health visitor to go into the
homes of the families on her district, to discuss with the mothers problems
of child nurture, a variety of domestic difficulties, safety in the home,
food values, nutritition, immunisation, and better health,, The field of
endeavour for the health visitor is admittedly vast, but her enthusiasm and
energies must leap up to meet and encompass the task.
TABLE 23 HEALTH VISITING, 1952
| Number of Health Visitors employed at end of year | Equivalent Whole-time Health Visitor Services provided under Col. (2) (all classes including attendance at Infant Welfare Centres) | Number of visits paid by Health Visitors during the year | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expectant Mothers | Children under 1 year of age | Children between the ages of 1 & 5 | Other Classes | |||||||
| Whole-time on Health Visiting | Part-time oh Hea1th Visiting | |||||||||
| First Visits | Total Visits | First Visits | Total Vis-Its | First Visits | Total Visits | First Visits | Total Visits | |||
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) | (9) | (10) | (11) |
| 5+ | 18 | 9 | 863 | 971 | 1,659 | 8,690 | 11,818 | - | 1809 | |
+ Includes Superintendent Health Visitor
All Health Visiting Services are provided by the Authority. There are no
agency arrangements with voluntary organisations.