[Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Wigan County Borough.

  • Wigan (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Wigan County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/132 (page 10)
    Collaboration with Voluntary Organisations : Although, in the years immediately following the introduction of the Act voluntary organisations were of the opinion that they had no place in the new set-up, a gradual change has taken place and now there is no doubt that they have carved a niche for themselves and indeed render considerable help to the Department. Perhaps the most active local bodies are the Wigan After-Care Committee, the Wigan Branch of the Family Planning Association, the W.V.S. and the Rotary Club, closely followed by the National Association for the Parents of Backward Children and the Y.W.C.A. In addition a good deal of quiet voluntary work is done by the various members of the staff, particularly health visitors, welfare officers and mental health workers. We intend to foster the spirit of voluntary co-operation wherever possible. Section 22. Care of Mothers and Young Children : Following the inception of the National Health Service the local effects on maternal and child care are not revolutionary. The structure is much as before but there have been some extensions and some additions all of which have improved the service to the community. With regard to the care of mothers our liaison with the hospitals and with the general practitioners is improved. Many ante-natal patients booked for hospital confinement attend the local authority ante-natal clinic for super¬ visory care. The consultant obstetrician holds regular sessions at the local authority clinic and sees all cases presented to him. Cases are also referred by the general practitioners to the clinic for the consultant’s opinion. The same arrangements exist for the post-natal examination of hospital deliveries and the consultant also sees domiciliary cases where no practitioner was engaged. There is a free exchange of information between local authority consultant and general practitioner in many cases, but we have some way to go before this procedure is universally accepted. Priority dental care for mothers and young children has been continued until recently but owing to the fact that only one dental officer is now available for all the school and local authority dental work only urgent maternity and child welfare cases are receiving treatment at the clinic. Premature babies continue to receive early intensive visiting by the supervisor and two domiciliary midwives. Only when the infant has reached ‘ normal ’ standards is it transferred to the care of the health visitor. The Day Nursery has accommodation for 67 , children and is available primarily for those whose mothers go out to work or who are temporarily unable to care for them. From time to time other cases are admitted as emergencies. In 1954 an extension was added to the Nursery and this enables the children to be divided into three age groups, each with its own appropriate equipment. The accommodation was increased from 52 to 67 places. Due to lack of support 24-hour facilities were discontinued on the 1st January, 1957. The Nursery is recognised as a training nursery for the N.N.E.B. examination. There are usually eight students in training at a time. Three students gained their certificates during 1958.