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of a number of State registered nurses to act as assistants to
the qualified Health Visitors, so that the work might suffer as
little as possible. Accordingly, between July and October, 1947,
eight State registered nurses were appointed to the staff, their
duties being to assist Health Visitors at Clinics and to undertake,
under supervision of the Health Visitors, certain home
supervisory visits. While this action is not ideal, it is considerably
preferable to a gross curtailment of the services built
up over the past 30 years, and ot proved benefit to the people.
Similar appointments have been made throughout the country:
and indeed it may serve to show that the pre-war use of the
time of a Health Visitor was frequently uneconomical, in that
part of her work can henceforth be done by a person less well
qualified, thus releasing her for the home educative work for
v/hich she has been specially trained, and relieving her of the
routine Clinic work.
But every effort must be made to recruit student Health
Visitors, and, with this object in view, towards the end of 1947,
preliminary discussions took place between officers of the Education
and Public Health Departments in regard to the possibility
of establishing in West Ham a training school for Health
Visitors.
The number of Health Visitors employed at the end of
1947 was 10, compared with a normal complement of 18. As
stated before, eight State registered nurses were appointed to
assist the Health Visitors, and in addition two Health Visitors
were employed full-time by voluntary organisations subsidised
by the Council, namely, Plaistow Maternity Hospital and SouthWest
Ham Health Society. The number of home visits paid
during the year by all Health Visitors working in the area
was:—
First visits Total visits
To expectant mothers 2,741 6,576
To children under 1 year of age 6,019 12,200
To children between the ages of 1 and 5 3,183 12,825
These numbers, though good having regard to the circumstances,
reveal that the supervision of children, and in particular
of children under 1 year, was sadly deficient. It is my considered
opinion that it would be better to close certain Clinic sessions,
if necessary, and thus release Health Visitors to superintend
more closely the children in their own homes. The Maternity
and Child-Welfare Services are based or; supervision and education
in the homes, and it is wrong policy to employ a Health
Visitor too much in Clinic work, to the detriment of home
visiting, and wherever possible in this present shortage of Health
Visitors, they should be relieved of work which can be done
equally well by less well qualified nurses.
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