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chief nursing officers In December the
chief nursing officer was invited to a one
day conference for chief nursing officers
from the hospital and local authority fields
at both the Queen s Institute of District
Nursing and the Hospital Centre and in the
autumn she was invited to participate in a
working party in relation to the mentally
handicapped at the Department of Health and
Social Security
Students
Three student health visitors commenced
training in the autumn two at Chiswick
Polytechnic and one at the North Western
Polytechnic and there were three integrated
students from West Middlesex Hospital and
Chiswick Polytechnic On average throughout
the vear there were eighty students per month
requiring community care experience In
addition to those already mentioned visits
to the department were made by pupils from
Cranford school student teachers of the
mentally handicapped students from Maria
Grey College obstetric nurses child care
students social work students students
from the Middlesex Hospital and administrative
students from Edinburgh University and the
Royal College of Nursing
Mothers Clubs
There are three clubs flourishing in the
borough providing mothercraft and social
contact
Group Advisers
Since three members were appointed work
within the health visiting frame work has
developed in depth the group advisers
giving support at field level and assisting
with administration
Work Analysis
This exercise is being prepared for selfevaluation
and to evaluate the content of
work in depth
Senior Nursing Officers Weekly Meetings
These meetings continued to be a vital and co
ordinating feature Integration both vertically
and horizontally is being gradually achieved
Home Nursing
Since the introduction of home nurses to general
practice in 1968 76% of the personnel are now
working in attachment schemes This increasingly
involves surgery work but domiciliary visits to
the over 65 s still occupy a large proportion of
the nurses time
In the autumn the equivalent of two nursing
auxiliaries employed on a part time basis
greatly assisted in bed bathing and basic
nursing Plans to increase ancillary personnel
are in progress thus relieving the home nurses
for more clinical care
Development in the use of disposable clinical
and medical materials continued through the
year and the laundry service continued to
expand and wider use of protective clothing
continued
The number of patients visited by home nurses
in their homes was 3 537 and of those 2 059
were 65 years and over The total number of
visits paid to these patients rose to 98 709 an
overall increase of approximately 7 000 visits
in relation to the 1968 figures
Laundry Service
This is an existing service but is now dealt
with by the home help section (Section 84 of
the Public Health Act 1936)
Staff
A full establishment of 36 equivalent whole time
home nurses continued throughout the year
including 4 SEN s with an additional establish
ment of 2 nursing auxiliaries and with a
waiting list of applicants The increasing
development of attachment schemes to general
practitioners throughout the borough has proved
invaluable both in developing relationships
within the community nursing structure and in
patterns of continuity of patient care The Marie
Curie and night nurse service gave excellent
help to 13 patients and a satisfactory recruitment
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