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they are at work. The familiar spinster nurse, who devoted her life
to nursing is disappearing fast, and so is the traditional bicycle which
carried her from patient to patient. In the interests of efficiency, a
largely motorised transport service is the aim, and this, in effect, is
operative in this Authority.
The only disadvantage to the Service, so far as the married nurse
is concerned, which gave rise to considerable staff shortages throughout
the year, is the frequency of requests for maternity leave which,
when granted, is of a total duration of 18 weeks.
Since the amalgamation of the three former areas of Wimbledon,
Merton and Morden, and Mitcham into this Borough, it has become
clear that one male nurse would be required for each area if a satisfactory
service were to be given. It is not generally realised that very
heavy patients, whom female nurses are unable to lift, and where the
introduction of a mechanical hoist for lifting purposes is not possible,
are often able to remain in their own homes solely because they are
attended by a male nurse. The recruitment of male nurses is difficult
since they are often married with families and require living accommodation
in the area where they work. The provision of accommodation
for married male nurses is receiving the attention of the Authority.
Two additional part-time Nursing Auxiliaries were added to the
establishment during the year, making a total of four part-time Nursing
Auxiliaries on the establishment. In-service training is given to
these Nursing Auxiliaries by an experienced Home Nurse and the
Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent satisfies herself, in each
case, that the Auxiliary is competent to carry out her work unsupervised
before actually doing so.
The Superintendent was absent, due to illness, from June until
the end of December, and until late in the year it had not been possible
to fill the vacant post of Deputy Superintendent. A considerable
burden of responsibility, therefore, fell on the shoulders of Miss
Richards, the Superintendent Health Visitor, who, in addition to her
own duties, had temporarily to assume responsibility for the supervision
of the Midwifery and Home Nursing Service.
Organisation
The Borough is divided into eight areas of differing population
and size, and each area is staffed by a group of Home Nurses. Requests
for the services of a Home Nurse are principally referred by
general practitioners. These are taken mainly by telephone at the
Health Department and are passed to the nurse concerned on the same
day.
Gradual changes are taking place in the type of nursing required
in the patient's own home, as well as in the type of nurse supplying
the service.
Home Nursing centres more and more around the elderly, infirm
and chronically sick patient, very often living alone. Sixty-seven per
cent of all patients receiving home nursing are over the age of 65
years.
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