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clinic. It has therefore now been arranged that the Family Planning
Association interviewer will link with health visitors who will then be able
to give further encouragement and help.
HEALTH VISITING
The Health Visitor is one of the key workers in the Department. She is
a State Registered Nurse with special training for her particular task, which,
of course, is not confined to home visiting. She attends child health and
immunisation sessions at maternal and child health centres and many other
miscellaneous sessions. She also gives health education lectures at clinics
and in schools. In consequence the statistical table of the visiting aspect
of her work represents only about one third of her total output.
Type of Case Number visited
Children born in 1968 4,841
Children born in 1967 4,677
Children born between 1963 and 1966 9,834
Persons aged 65 or over 533
Mentally disordered persons 48
Persons, excluding maternity cases, discharged from hospital
(other than mental hospitals) 140
Tuberculous households 7
Households visited on account of other infectious diseases 12
Other cases 1,029
The health visiting service still gives some cause for concern. Recruitment
to the service continues to remain at a low level and the case load carried
by the health visitors is higher than the national average.
Hackney is an area with a high social need and a great deal of the health
visitors' time is spent with families who have multiple social problems, many
of which are associated with health problems of members within the family.
Because of their heavy case load, visiting must, of necessity, be on a
selective basis and each health visitor must assess her priorities and visit
each family according to need.
Following a working party report which looked into the work of the health
visitor, recommendations were made, which continue to be followed in this
department. The health visitor who is particularly well placed to recognise
the early sumptoms of family break-down and likely neglect or ill-treatment of
children, has a pointing system to which she can refer for guidance on those
families likely to become in social need or are already requiring social
service help.
A register of such families is kept in the office of the Co-ordinating
Nursing Officer and reviewed in consultation with the health visitor.
In families where multiple visiting is likely to occur or where
additional services are required, a referral is made to the Field Workers
Conference for discussion, so that the relevant services can be provided and
one worker nominated to continue to work with the family and at the same time
keep in touch with the other workers concerned. This co-ordination of the
efforts of the various workers provides the best service for the family and
prevents duplication of work.
There is no doubt that this work has contributed to the prevention of
break-up of families.
Details of other aspects of the work of the health visitor will be found
on pages 21 to 23.