Britain: An official handbook > 1966

BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
15°
Other Maternity
and Child Welfare
Services
Health Visiting
Many local health authorities make special arrangements for premature
babies remaining in their own homes, by lending equipment and appointing
experienced nursing staff to supervise their care.
There are about 500 day nurseries for children under five in Great Britain
provided by local health authorities or voluntary associations working with
them. The National Health Service Act 1952 gave local authorities power
to make charges for the use of day nurseries. Private or factory nurseries (of
which there are about 1,300 in Great Britain) must be registered with the
local health authorities; this regulation applies also to persons paid for
looking after more than two children who are not all of the same family.
Most local authorities contribute to the cost of the work done by voluntary
denominational and other bodies which care for unmarried mothers and
their babies; a few authorities make direct provision for their special needs
through their health departments. The voluntary associations employ specially
trained workers to help the unmarried mother in making plans for herself
and her child. Most homes and hostels for the ante-natal and post-natal care
(and, in some cases, the confinement) of these mothers are provided by such
organisations.
Health visitors (see p. 153) are employed by local health authorities to visit
people in their own homes to give advice on the care of young children,
expectant and nursing mothers, people of all ages (with increasing attention
to the elderly) suffering from illness, including mental illness, and any injury
or disability requiring medical or dental treatment, and on measures necessary
to prevent the spread of infection. Their duties include health education and
attendance at ante-natal and child welfare clinics. They may also undertake
tuberculosis visiting and school nursing.
Home Nursing
Domestic Help
Ambulance Services
The employment of nurses to attend patients who require nursing in their
own homes is the responsibility of the local health authorities. Most authorities
employ nurses directly for this purpose, although some have arranged for
voluntary district nursing associations to provide a service on their behalf.
Local health authorities (welfare authorities in Northern Ireland) have the
power to make arrangements for domestic help (commonly called ‘home help’)
in households where it is needed owing to illness, confinement, or the
presence of children or old people. This service is mainly used in the care
of old or chronically sick people, in maternity cases and, to a lesser extent
but increasingly, for families where such help is needed to prevent children
having to be cared for away from home, for example, during the absence
of the mother. The authorities may recover from those assisted such charges
as it is considered they can afford to pay, but the service may be provided
without charge to people with very small incomes.
Free conveyance by ambulance in England and Wales between home and
hospital or clinic is provided, where needed, by local authorities^ either
directly or by arrangement with voluntary organisations. The Hospital Car
Service (organised by the St. John Ambulance Brigade, the British Red Cross
Society, and the Women’s Voluntary Service) augments the ambulance
service in many areas for the conveyance of sitting patients. In Scotland
ambulances are run by the Scottish Ambulance Service (St. Andrew s
Ambulance Association and the Scottish branch of the British Red Cross
Society) on behalf of the Secretary of State. In Northern Ireland they are
run by the Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority.
1 County and county borough councils and the Greater London Council.