[Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, West Bromwich County Borough.

  • West Bromwich (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, West Bromwich County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Analysis of Home Visits 1955 195G 1957 1958 1959 First visits to births 1,390 1,373 1,581 1,586 1,800 Revisits to children under 12 months 5, 008 2,986 2,955 4,812 4,682 Revisits to children 1-5 years 12,028 8,725 8, 544 9,205 10,195 Visits to cases of infectious disease 229 262 98 129 34 Visits to expectant mothers 257 224 141 216 197 Miscellaneous 1,833 1,385 1,493 1,147 927 B. C. G* Vaccinations 878 291 701 608 779 Totals 21,619 15,246 15,513 17,703 18,614 At the end of December the health visitors' case load of children under the age of five years was 6,925. There is a need to review the situation. Health visitors are difficult to recruit,and need to be used to the best advantage. It may, therefore, be desirable to employ nurses to assist in clinic duties. The centre from which the Health Visitor and other nurses work is hopelessly inadequate in space and facilities. This matter has for some time caused concern to the Health Committee. Tuberculosis Visiting Two tuberculosis visitors employed for most of the year paid 2,650 home visits. Reference to this work will be found in the section devoted to tuberculosis. Diabetic Clinic A health visitor attended the diabetic clinic held in, the District Hospital and was responsible for liaison with the physician and helping to see that the patients were able to carry out the instructions given them concerning diet. Liaison with ether Agencies As the Medical. Officer of Health is also the Chief Welfare Officer, a close liaison exists between the welfare officers and the health visitors. Tne important step for the future is to improve liaison with general practitioners. The Chief Nursing Officer attends meetings of social workers convened to co-ordinate the work in connection with children neg¬ lected or ill-treated in their own homes. Since June 1959, a health visitor has been in attendance at the Paediatric Out Patient Clinic at both Hallara and the District Hospitals.