[Report 1972] / Medical Officer of Health, Middleton Borough.

  • Middleton (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1972
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1972] / Medical Officer of Health, Middleton Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    There were also 6 School Nurses Mrs. M. T. Greenfield (part-time) Mrs. M. A. Harding (part-time) Mrs. V. Howa rd (pa rt-tim e) M rs. M. M. Hudson (part-time) Mrs. D. Mort Mrs. B. M. Robson During the year two Part-time Health Visitors resigned and were replaced by one Full-time Health Visitor, this, however, still leaving the Health Visitor strength of just over 60% of establishment. The Health Visitors are also helped by the School N urses, but they are not authorised to carry out the full range of Health Visiting Duties. Health visiting staff are deployed on the basis of partial attachment to most large-list General Practitioners in the town and not as formerly on a geographical basis. While this arrange¬ ment does lead to improved liaison with General Practitioners, it is not possible to derive the full benefit of liaison arrange¬ ments by reason of shortage of staff. Similarly, by reason of staff shortage, Health Visitors have limited opportunity for extending their work in Health Education. The scope of work undertaken by Health Visitors has changed from exclusive concentration on services to mothers with young children, and now includes a large proportion of services to the elderly. In 1972, Health Visitors paid 9,737 visits to children under 5 years and 223 visits were paid to expectant mothers. 1,888 visits were paid to those over the age of 65. Since 1970, the former urine screening (Phenistix) test for early detection of phenylketonuria was discontinued, being replaced by the Scriver blood test. A small sample of blood is taken from the heel of infants at about 2 weeks of age. Specimens are anylised at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Pendlebury. The test is much more accurate and gives early indication of a wider range of rare metabolic diseases. Health Visitors duties also include School Medical work, although the more routine work of medical inspection is shared by School Nurses without Health Visitor qualifications. Details of this service are given in Table B.10., page 38.