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SECTION 24 - HEALTH VISITING
The Authority is under a statutory duty to provide health visitors to care
for mothers and young children. As distinct from pre-war when much of the
health visitors' work was confined to giving advice on the various problems of
the very young baby - her duties have now changed radically. Modern teaching
has meant that the health visitor is often the all-purpose visitor to families
with children of any age, as in addition to being a health visitor, she is
wherever possible the school nurse as well.
The number of health visitors at the end of the year was 27.

*This includes 103 households visited during first quarter of year due to an
outbreak of diptheria.
The modern trend is to attach health visitors to group practices where
possible in order that they might help family doctors with the social side of
their medical work. It is our aim that we should do this, but until such time
that either we have more health visitors or more group practices in the Borough,
this would seem unlikely to be achieved.
SECTION 25 - HOME NURSING SERVICE
Prior to 1st January, 1965, all home nursing in the area covered by the
London Borough of Hackney was undertaken by three voluntary district nursing
associations; namely Hackney, Shoreditch and Bethnal Green, and Stoke Newington.
In the discussions leading up to the re-organisation of local government
in London, the local district nursing associations indicated that they no longer
wished to carry on and asked the Council if it would take over the running of
the district nursing service direct. The Authority, of course, is under a
statutory obligation to provide a district nursing service.