Public health in 1948 : Remarkable statistics. The first months of the National Health Service
1950-03-31 1950 1950s 8 pages NUTRITION Little change is shown, compared with earlier years, in the results of the clinical surveys of the nutritional state of school children, 94 per cent. of whom were found to be of good nutritional state. That of housewives remained less satisfactory, though the...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
31 March 1950
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/F82A26B3-F180-4D8D-81CB-8CC4334BDE36 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/D11D0474-A8F8-4527-9A4F-626448E02335 |
| Summary: | 1950-03-31
1950
1950s
8 pages
NUTRITION Little change is shown, compared with earlier years, in the results of the clinical surveys of the nutritional state of school children, 94 per cent. of whom were found to be of good nutritional state. That of housewives remained less satisfactory, though the haemoglobin levels of samples of these women and of nearly 1,000 expectant mothers were very satisfactory. [P. 184] SHORTAGE OF NURSES The difficulty of staffing hospital beds remained undiminished, especially in small general hospitals, and in the female wings of mental hospitals. Great efforts were made to meet these difficulties. Sir Wilson Jameson points out that there is, after all, only a certain proportion of the young women of this country desirous of entering the nursing profession or who can be spared from other forms of employment, and that the solution to the problem lies rather in the more economical use of nurses than the recruitment of large numbers of additional nurses. Some of the ways in which this saving can be attained are shown. [Pp. 15 and 145] SURVEY OF SICKNESS The survey of sickness by the Social Survey field workers, based on the 70,851 monthly experiences obtained from 38,802 persons, showed no material difference in the amounts of sickness reported during the whole years 1947 and 1948. For men of working age there was no increase in medical consultations after the coming of the Act, and, while days of incapacity exceeded those of the same period of 1947, the December quarter figure was well below that of 1946. Women between 16 and 64 showed an increase of about 11 per cent in consultations and 24 per cent in days of incapacity compared with the previous year. [Pp. 193 and 194] PART II THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE "Right Use by the Public will take Time" The introduction of the National Health Service on 5th July, 1948, was an administrative revolution, and the first concern was to avoid any breakdown in service to the patient. This was achieved. Of the first months Sir Wilson Jameson says: "The immediate advantages to the public of access to all forms of medical care without financial obstacle are great, but the education of the public in the right use of the Service will take time". A great increase in demand was felt at once in the general medical, dental and pharmaceutical services and the supplementary ophthalmic service. There had been delays in securing dental treatment and in the provision of glasses, and doctors had crowded surgeries and visiting lists. Nevertheless, the professions concerned undertook a vast amount of extra work, and, on the whole, had been able to meet not unreasonably the requirements of the public. "Perhaps the most striking feature" writes Sir Wilson, "was the demand for dental treatment. The people of this country have been notoriously neglectful of dental health. It is abundantly clear that they will use the Service now that it is put within their reach and that we must have a much larger dental profession to provide it. The number of people found to require spectacles was also far larger than anticipated and here again many, who must have been long conscious of their needs, will now be able to satisfy them." Hospital Service. This suffered the most radical administrative change and 1948 was a period of adjustment rather than active development. While the new administration was settling down, long-term planning of specialist services was proceeding with a view to proper distribution of specialists. - 6 -
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |