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
Hillingdon 1968
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hillingdon]
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32
Personal Health Services
General nurse training is expanding to give a greater appreciation of patients' needs out of
hospital, and so there is the growing development of integrated courses for State registration/District
Nurse and/or Health Visiting qualifications. Medical education also is undergoing change.
Since the training of Health Visitors is built on nurse training, and her employment associates
her with doctors, changes are bound to be apparent.
During the year several reports were published, two of which were the report of the Committee
on Local Authority and Allied Personal Social Services (Seebohm) and the Green Paper on the
National Health Service—the Administrative Structure of the Medical and Related Services in England
and Wales. Any eventual recommendations will no doubt have repercussions on the Health Visiting
service, but whatever the administrative structure within which Health Visitors are required to work,
their main roles will be unaltered.
The following cases were visited by the Health Visitors during the year:
| Cases Visited | Number of Cases |
|---|---|
| 1. Total number of cases | 17,998 |
| 2. Children born in 1968 | 3,868 |
| 3. Children born in 1967 | 3,496 |
| 4. Children born in 1963-66 | 8,893 |
| 5. Total number of children in lines 2-4 | 16,257 |
| 6. Persons aged 65 or over | 721 |
| 7. Number included in line 6 who were visited at the special request of a G.P. or hospital | 192 |
| 8. Mentally disordered persons | 152 |
| 9. Number included in line 8 who were visited at the special request of a G.P. or hospital | 31 |
| 10. Persons, excluding maternity cases, discharged from hospital (other than mental hospitals) | 27 |
| 11. Number included in line 10 who were visited at the special request of a G.P. or hospital | 14 |
| 12. Number of tuberculous households visited | 1 |
| 13. Number of households visited on account of other infectious diseases | 171 |
| 14. Other cases | 669 |
| 15. Number of tuberculous households visited by tuberculosis visitors | 406 |
| 16. Families with a subnormal child | 140 |
HOME NURSING
The present establishment is a Superintendent, her Deputy and 34 District Nurses. Twenty of
these district nurses are in possession of the Ministry National Certificate of District Nursing and/or
Queen's Institute Certificate and Badge.
The Borough is a registered area for district nurse training and the students receive their practical
instruction from the Superintendent, and the theoretical instruction is given at Chiswick Polytechnic.
Four of the district nurses—who are State Registered Nurses, qualified Midwives, possessing District
Nursing Certificates and also undertook an instruction course—are now responsible for the training
of the integrated students from Hillingdon Hospital.