[Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, West Riding of Yorkshire County Council.

  • West Riding of Yorkshire (England). County Council
Date:
1962
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Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, West Riding of Yorkshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/246 (page 11)
    INTRODUCTION i Although the body of the report relates strictly to the calendar year this mtroduction must of necessity range over a wider period if only for the sake of intelligent continuity. The rapidly rising birth rate has very great significance for the health services. We were led to believe from indications then apparent that the peak birth rate jof 1947, followed as it was by a rapid fall, would not be repeated. This point bf view was supported by the conclusion of the Royal Commission on Population, in actual fact, as is now well known, the birth rate has risen again rapidly and is continuing to do so with no sign of diminution—it is already approaching the peak of 1947. The immediate effect, of course, is on the midwifery service, but will eventually be felt in all our services through child v/elfare clinics, schools, and ultimately teenager and marriage problems. For the moment, however, it |is obvious that a strong domiciliary midwifery service will still need to be main¬ tained in spite of the prospects of increased hospital provision and the tendency of earlier discharge from hospital after confinement. Ironically enough it would appear that the domiciliary services are better geared to deal with this expansion of the birth rate than the hospitals. At least we are not under any undue pressure in the West Riding at the moment. ! Bearing the increased birth rate in mind as one of the bases of all our plans for the future, the present year will be remembered as a year of reappraisal of the services as a result of the Ministry’s request to all local health authorities for a statement of their intentions during the next ten years. Similar plans for :the hospital services had already been published and these, together with the increased birth rate, really form the foundations of the progress to be aimed at by local health authorities. The plans from every authority have now been collated and published as a Command document. The interest of this document lies in the comparisons which can be made between the plans of the various lauthorities and the average requirements of the country as a whole. The value of this comparison is in the opportunity it gives for the annual revision of the plan which is asked for by the Ministry. Eventually, therefore, as each year passes and adjustments are made, the plans of the hospitals and the local health authorities should get closer together in their ultimate objective of meeting the full needs of the community. A summary of the West Riding plan appears in the miscellaneous section of this report. Perhaps the most interesting project for future development is the introduction af new categories of staff into the department in the shape of social workers and health visitor assistants. For many years we have not been able to recruit up to aur establishment of health visitors. In spite of a training scheme run jointly with the City of Leeds recruitment has merely offset losses by retirement and resignation. Already the staff of health visitors includes a number of nurses without the health visitor’s certificate. This has been essential in order to keep :he work of the department going. I think it is over-optimistic to expect that :he expansion of work in the department, and the increased volume of work alaced upon the health visitor by greater stress on community care, can be met ay an influx of trained health visitors. I just do not believe that the greater lumber required by all the authorities in the country, if we are to accept their