[Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council.

  • Somerset Council
Date:
1949
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    39/104 (page 37)
    Owing to the rapid expans'on of tlie Service the W.V.S. ai'ea organisers of Taunton and Weslon-siiper-IMare are finding the work involved too heavy with (heir otlier connnitinerits, and liave signified (heir intention of resign.ng on -lannary Jst and February 1st, lO/K) res])ectively. Two Comity Council area Organisers are being appointed to i-ejilace them. Office accommodation lias been obtained in the ITealtli Centre at Tlridgwater and in the Ministry of iS'ational Insurance Offices at Yeovil. It is hoped that office accommodation will eventually be found in the Health Clinics at Yeovil, \Yeston-super-Mare and Tannton. The scheme is worked in close liaison with the General Practitioners, Hospital Almoners, District Nni’ses, Health Visitors, Children's Officer, National Assistance Board, the N.S.P.C.C. and the Comity Association for the Blind. Help is sent in cases of medical need or where child¬ ren under school age are temporarily deprived of a mother’s care and there is no other w'ay of dealing with the situation. Cases are accepted only when recommended by one of the above. Tlie organiser is responsible for reducing the hours and for withdrawing the help as soon as she considers it reasonable, but never does so without first consulting the doctor or nurse in attend¬ ance on the case. Where there is no medical attendant, variation of Home Helji time allotted may be made at the request of the householder. The number of Home Helps at present on the register is 410, a large percentage of whom are women with a few hours spare time daily. The service has become a very popular one, and is attracting a very good type of worker. The fact that there is a waiting list of Home Helps in most areas enables the organiser to choose her helps with great care, and gives the Helps chosen an increased pride in the service. The standard of work, cleanliness and conduct is graduady becoming higher. In the winter. Home Helps were invited to attend voluntarily a Course on Housecraft and invalid Cookery which was arranged at Bridgwater by the County Education Committee. This was an experiment which proved very successful. Twenty out of the fifty Home Hel2)s in the town took advantage of the lectures, which were held in the even¬ ings at weekly intervals. It is hoped that similar lecture courses may be arranged in other towns in the future. A small band of picked women are employed as residential helps to cover cases in isolated l)laces, or where the i>atient or small children cannot be left alone at night. The majority of cases requiring such residential hel|)s are maternity cases in outlying farms or farm cottages. The average number of Householders helj^ed weekly has risen from 370 in October, 1949, to 497) in December, 1949. Of these the majority are maternity cases or cases of old i)eople who are either infirm or ill tluough various causes. The number of maternity cases attended since the inauguration of the scheme in July, 1948 is over 1,(H)(). Home Helj^s sent to these cases enable the fanuly to stay together as a unit, and substantially reduce the strain on accommodation in maternity and children’s homes. A fortnight's help is allowed for each maternity case, but extra help is given either before or after the confinement at the request of the District Nurse or Doctor. Normally the Home Helj) briefed for a maternity case i^ays a jire-natal visit to the borne a week or so before the confinement in order to familiarise herself with the normal routine of the household. There is a great demand for Home Helps by ITosj^ital Almoners and ])atients are often able to leave hospital many weeks earliei' than would be j^ossible without the ])rovision of help. Some difficulty lias been encountered from time to time in providing Home flelps for oj^en cases of Tuberculosis. The organisers are insti’iipted to invite older women, jneferably over 49 years