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Section 24. HEALTH VISITING
The health visiting statistics are given on page 69
Expectant Mothers -The first visits to expectant mothers shows
an increase. Information is now received from Thorpe Coombe
Maternity Hospital of all patients booked for hospital
confinement. Nevertheless the information is still lacking from
some hospitals. This is unfortunate because the ante natal
period gives the health visitor an excellent opportunity of
establishing a sound relationship with the mother which is the
basis of good health visiting.
Co-operation with Hospitals etc, and General Practitioners- A
great many telephone calls received by health visitors during the
year from family doctors, almoners and others, shows the
continued trend of direct and harmonious interchange between
those concerned. The majority of these calls are requests for
home visits and reports of one kind or another. Parents
frequently telephone for advice and assistance. An increasing
number of requests for early visits to those being discharged or
admitted to hospitals gives the health visitor an opportunity to
prevent or relieve distress. These requests provide a link
between the patients, their homes and the hospitals.
Toddlers Clinics - Children between the ages of two and five
years are invited by appointment and are seen by a doctor. The
aim of these periodic medical examinations is the detection and
correction of minor defects, mental, physical or environmental.
The numbers at each session are limited in order to preserve an
unhurried character and to give the parents an opportunity of
quiet discussion with the clinic doctor on any matter of concern
to them and the child
Aged and Chronic sick - Over recent years the number of visits
paid shows a marked increase. Because of their nature and
circumstances these visits are of necessity time consuming but
essental and worthwhile. The care of older members of the
community is a sphere in which general practitioners and health
visitors must work closely together if the best service is to be
given. Local liason between the general practitioner, district
nurse, home help organiser and/or the geriatric team continues
to be maintained in respect of social needs.
Section 25 HOME NURSING
During 1960 ten hospital and public health students
visited the District Nurses' Home, and accompanied the nurses
on their morning rounds.