[Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, New Windsor Borough.

  • Windsor (Berkshire, England). Borough Council.
Date:
1952
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, New Windsor Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/38 (page 17)
    SECTION 24—Health Visiting This most important branch of the health service continued to function well throughout the year and we were not handicapped by illness or resignations among the staff. A few minor admin¬ istrative alterations were made so that even less of the nurses’ time was spent completing documents in the office. The work involved in reporting on the suitability of home circumstances for confinement is still considerable. It is hoped that re-education of the public to consider home confinement as usual will eventually remove the need for this work, but I doubt it will not be for several years yet. A general duties nurse would still be an asset when linked with the School Health Service. Stress is to be made next year on fireguards for special types of fires, but as these are not yet available in Windsor the manufacturers and retailers are being approached on the matter. There is little point in telling a mother the type of fireguard she needs if she cannot obtain it in her local hardware store. During 1952 the Health Visitors have had to be content with advising parents to obtain the common type of fireguard which is not suitable for many modern electric fires. SECTION 25—Home Nursing This service under the direct supervision of the County Medical Officer w^as discussed in some detail last year and has continued as before. The problem of the chronic sick who cannot be admitted to hospital due to lack of accommodation has appeared to be less than in the previous year. During the year the District Nurses have made 7880 visits and dealt with 408 new cases. SECTION 26—Immunisation Total Number immunised ... Priynary 372 Booster 480 Number aged 0—4 years (inclusive) 349 — Number aged 5—10 years (inclusive) 21 377 Number aged 11—15 years (inclusive) 2 103 The figures show some increase on those of last year and generally the position is satisfactory. Health Visitors estimates show that 71% of children under five years are immunised against diphtheria. Immunisation against Whooping Cough does not reach such a high percentage but is becoming more and more the accepted procedure with infants. Parents are being encouraged to take advantage of this whooping cough immunisation in the first three months of life before diphtheria immunisation is com-