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Care of School Children
Health visitors are appointed jointly under the National Health Service
Acts for the care of mothers and young children and under the Education Act
for the care of school children. Continuity of care is maintained and close
contact is made with the school staffs. They are concerned, not only with
medical care and testing of vision and hearing, "but also with the personal
hygiene and family background of each child. When difficulties other than
those of an educational nature present themselves they are referred to by
the school staff and whenever necessary can make home visits to assist in the
resolving of medical, emotional or environmental problems. They are
responsible for health education in schools and gave 50 teaching sessions
during the period. All contacts with pupils and teaching staff are utilised
for this purpose whenever opportunity arises.
Periodic medical inspections of older school children are now arranged
by sessional school nurses. During the period 1st April to 31st December 1965
the health visitors were responsible for 162 sessions in school plus 38½ sessions
given to hygiene inspections.
Sessional school nurses spent 252½ sessions on school medical inspections
and minor ailment clinics are held for school children and attended by
sessional school nurses where possible. During the period 1st April to
31st December, 1965 they attended 272½ sessions: health visitors were called
upon to relieve at 15 such sessions during this periods
Health Education
Apart from their work in schools and clinics health visitors give formal
health education talks to many and varied groups who call upon them from time
to time to attend both day and evening meetings. Other aspects of this work will
be found in the section of the report dealing with health education.
) Education and Training
The introduction of the student nurse to preventive medicine is of
paramount importance. No classroom lecture can substitute for the experience
of seeing patients in their own environments. Close co-operation has therefore
been given to schools of nursing despite the difficulties of maintaining the
services in the face of staff shortage. Many of the allied disciplines include
observation visits with health visitors in their training curricula.
Student nurses from local hospitals are now being sent to spend a day with a
health visitor. St.George's Hospital, London and Queen Elizabeth's Hospital for
Children send students annually for observation visits and St.Helier Hospital,
Queen Mary's Hospital for Children, Sutton General Hospital and St.Anthony’s
Hospital have similar arrangements.
During 1st April to 31st December 1965 264 students from hospital visited
the Borough for observation visits.
The training of health visitor students is regarded as an important undertaking
and two health visitors, with an ability and liking for teaching, have been
sent for training as field work instructors. They implement the theoretical
and academic knowledge imparted by the training colleges and provide students
with their practical experience in the field.
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