[Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Eastbourne County Borough.

  • Eastbourne (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Eastbourne County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CARE AND AFTER-CARE SERVICES Co-operation and Co-ordination Initial reactions to a joint Local Health Authority/Hospital appoint- ment, with particular reference to a developing Day Hospital. By Dr. W. J. Wigfield, Deputy Medical Officer of Health On 1st October 1971 I took up my appointment of four sessions a week to build up the Geriatric Day Hospital. A section of the hospital Occupational Therapy Department took six patients three times a week, and it was planned to increase this to forty patients five days a week. There were difficulties. The two work areas earmarked by the Con- sultant were also earmarked by Matron for other purposes—and Matron won. The three part-time Occupational Therapists were already fully committed to working with In-Patients. The Physiotherapy Depart- ment, 50 per cent, under staffed, could not take on any additional work. Our nurse, an untrained auxiliary, “minded” the patients during the dinner hour but did little else. The patients’ lunch was served in the Staff dining room (which patients enjoyed) but one old lady was incon- tinent so she had her lunch by herself in the Occupational Therapy room. Nobody was to blame for all this; it just was nobody’s baby. From this inauspicious start, a useful Day Hospital is growing. I have many people to thank, both in the hospital and in Local Authority employ. The immediate team of workers, Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapist aides, Staff Nurse, Medicsd Social Worker and (most important) the clerical assistant, who all faced additional work loads, and put the patients’ needs before conventional demarcation of “Who does what?”. The administrative staff of the hospital faced with a very new broom sweeping rather furiously. The Ambulance Officer and Chief Administration Officer of the Local Authority faced with the purchase of new and specially designed vehicles to transport patients together with their essential hardware—wheelchairs, Zimmer frames, sticks, crutches and calipers. Before long, the first patients were ready for discharge. They did not need further skilled care, but they did need a Day Centre to maintain the skills they had and to protect them from loneliness. My Local Authority contacts with the Social work teams, and the Day Centre at Firwood House (which I had a hand in starting) were invaluable. Other patients managed at home, with a Health Visitor “specialing” them until the settling down period was safely passed. My personal knowledge of the Eastbourne Health Visitors made explanations of what was wanted so much easier. Then the District Nurses started ringing me up, about patients whom they attended and who also came to the Day Hospital. This was