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HEALTH VISITING
A co-ordinated approach to the problems of families, and in particular those with children,
has been furthered by measures designed to increase co-operation between health visitors and the
staff of appropriate departments of the Borough. In the School Health Service a health visitor has
been made responsible for the welfare of pupils in each school and she is available to the school
doctor or head teacher for consultation on special problems, even though the school medical examination
may have been attended by a school nurse. Child care officers in the Children's Department
derive much help in their task to prevent children being taken into care from the work of health visitors
in finding neighbours or relatives, child-minders or places in day nurseries for the temporary care of
children deprived of a normal home life.
The deployment of health visitors to work in close co-operation with general practitioners
has been promoted through personal working relationships, and by the dissemination to doctors of
maximum information about the Borough medico-social services available to them and their patients.
To this end the publication of the 'Health of Camden' has proved a most useful measure.
The attachment of health visitors and other members of the health team to general practices,
which is our aim, has depended to a large extent on the willingness of doctors to organise themselves
into group practices. In 1966 there has been little evidence of such a change of attitude within the
Borough. By the end of this year, two health visitors were attached full-time to two group practices
and three more health visitors part-time, two to single practices and one to a three-doctor partnership.
Progress under these conditions has been inevitably slow, but every opportunity will be
taken to increase this trend.
DAY CARE
The closure of part of the Regent's Park Day Nursery from 1 January 1966, reduced the
places available at the Council's nine day nurseries from 489 to 469. In addition to these places,
there were 52 at the Kingsway Creche Day Nursery run by the West London Mission on a grant aid
basis, making a total of 521 places in all. The average daily attendance throughout the year was
480, i.e. 92.1 per cent. of the possible maximum. This high overall average was achieved despite
outbreaks of measles, sonne dysentery and chickenpox at various times.
The increasing pressure on day nursery places, especially in the Kilburn area, was reflected
in the rise of top priority cases awaiting admission from 23 on 1 January 1966 to 109 on 31 December
1966.
The number of handicapped children admitted to day nurseries has increased. The position
at the end of the year, with corresponding figures for 31.12.65 in brackets, was as follows:-
Handicap No. of children
Mental and Physical 11 (6)
Physical only 6 (3)
Mental only 2 (-)
Hearing loss 6 (6)
The special unit which offers 9 places for very young, severely subnormal children at
Coram's Garden Day Nursery was full at the close of the year.
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