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To increase the facilities for practical training of the staff in the Hackney
area, an approach was made to the Family Planning Association concerning the
approval of one of the Council's Family Planning clinics as a teaching clinic.
Training undertaken there would then be recognised for the FPA Certificates.
The Health Committee agreed to sponsor applicants already working for the
Health Department and to undertake responsibility for fees payable.
The arrangements for domiciliary visiting continued and during the year
49 new families were referred. The Family Planning Association, who run this
service as the Council's agent, report that of these "two were pregnant at
the first visit but were given suitable contraceptive advice post-natally, 28
were prescribed oral contraceptives or the IUD. These are the most effective
methods for couples living in poor housing conditions or with low motivation,
but not all are willing to use them, and adverse publicity will often mean a
break-down of perseverance. Seven couples preferred the conventional methods,
the rest were either never satisfactorily established on any method or contact
was lost".
Family Planning Association workers continue to interview mothers in the
maternity wards at Hackney Hospital to advise them about the importance of
family planning and the services available. If a woman says that she would
like to attend a clinic for birth control advice, details are sent to the
health visitor who can then follow-up and encourage the woman to attend.
Eventually, hospitals should be able to arrange for birth control advice to be
available as part of their own service. There is no doubt that this is much
needed not only for post-natal patients but for women who have had therapeutic
abortions.
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 1969 4,579
Children born in 1968 4,642
Children born between 1964 and 1967 10,728
Persons aged 65 or over 619
Mentally disordered persons 74
Persons, excluding maternity cases, discharged from hospital
(other than mental hospitals) 133
Tuberculous households 7
Households visited on account of other infectious diseases 34
Other cases 1,229
There has been an improvement in the recruitment of health visitors and
this has resulted in an increase in the number of home visits. Recruitment
and retention of staff has been a problem in the past and this prompted the
use of incentives. A limited amount of accommodation was made available and
an allowance of £50 per annum in lieu of uniform was granted.
The present establishment of 29 health visitors, though a considerable
improvement, still fails to fulfil the needs of the borough. A further 12
student health visitors qualify at the end of the current academic year.
Thus, a final total of 40 will, for the first time, provide a realistic
number to meet the borough's requirements. Consideration may now be given
to the development of a liaison scheme between health visitors and general
practitioners.