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On the 31st October, the Silvertown and North Woolwich District Nursing
Association, for many years associated with the area south of the Docks, wound up its
work on the retirement of the sister in charge - Miss Booth. Miss Booth left after
many years of loyal and devoted service to the sick of Silvertown and will be much
missed by patients, friends, and colleagues. The municipal home nursing staff now
cover the whole of that part of West Ham which lies south of the District Railway Line.
Home Nursing Centre.
This has remained at Liverpool Road (in the premises previously used as a Day
Nursery). While the building has been found quite suitable for Its new purpose, its
situation, which is not sufficiently central, has certain disadvantages. It had been
hoped to encourage able-bodied patients to attend the centre for routine treatment
(mainly injections) thus freeing the staff to give more time to visits to patients
confined to their homes. The inconvenience and cost of the Journey to the centre
has prevented much progress being made in this direction.
Male Nurse.
We have appointed our first male nurse, and his work with elderly male patients
has been much appreciated.
Loan Scheme.
The scheme for lending nursing equipment has been much used and the number of
articles lent is rising every year.
Laundry Service.
Frequent changes of linen are essential to the comfort of the senile and chronic
sick, and the need, therefore, arises for a laundry service for the washing of articles
not suitable for a commercial laundry. The possibility of providing special laundry
services is being explored.
Future of the Service.
Contemplation of the future of the Home Nursing Service gives cause for some
anxiety on account of the failure to recruit full-time staff. Attractive and convenient
modern flatlets are available for the staff in the new Guinness Trust building, and with
the problem of recruitment in mind, the hours of work have been fixed slightly below the
generally accepted level. The supervisor, who is a Queen's Nurse, has done much to
introduce modern nursing techniques and to organise the service on up to date lines, and
to give the staff every encouragement and guidance. Nevertheless, it is not proving
possible to recruit even a nucleus of full-time nurses. The part-time staff are the
mainstay of the service and always give of their best but with their own homes and
families to care for, the times at which they are available are necessarily limited. In
these circumstances it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet present commitments and
no extensions can be contemplated, though many are desirable.
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