CNO newsletter and 150 years celebrations

[Guest guest]

The current CNO newsletter has several items of interest - public health roles, which includes a school nursing example, news about Viv 's appointment as the first Director of Nursing for Public Health, and about 'Health visiting: 150 years and counting.' See http://cno.dh.gov.uk/2012/01/31/cno-bulletin-december-2011-january-2012/The item about '150 years' outlines that health visiting can be traced back to the Salford Ladies Sanitary Reform Association, which was actually set up in 1860. In 1862, they took the decision to employ 'respectable working women' from the local area to visit homes to help improve the health of women and children. In 1867, their annual report recorded that: '"Whitewash pails and brushes were placed at her disposal to lend and also chloride of lime for the purification of the air in the rooms of those who were suffering from fever. She had not only given instruction in common sanitary rules but she would herself wash and make comfortable a sick person whom she might find neglected or dirty, thus encouraging those who were around to follow her example by showing people how to do what was needful in the best way." I love that quote - even then, they were expected to be practical and supportive, rather than 'directive' (although history also tells us about quite a few very directive individuals!).By 1890, six of these 'sanitary visitors' were transferred into the employment of the Manchester Public Health Department (their name was changed to 'health visitors' the following year), which is why this particular initiative, amongst many home visiting programmes to improve the lot of poor families, is so often cited as the 'real' start of health visiting. The idea spread quite rapidly thereafter, and the health visitor was clearly identified in this development as a health counsellor and teacher rather than a nurse. The service increased through the next 50 years or so, being greatly enhanced by the Birth Notification Acts of 1907 and 1915, which also paved the way for developments to the education and training, initially under the Royal Sanitary Institute, which is now the Royal Society of Public Health. The Local Government Act 1929 was when the service became a statutory requirement, with all local authorities being required to ensure that all new mothers received a visit form a health visitor. That requirement was carried forward into the NHS Act 1946, although (we believe) it was varied in 1974, to requiring a service (rather than specifically a health visiting service) for mothers and children. Woody kindly traced some of this back for us recently, and we can't find the variation, but certainly the general belief is that it is no longer a statutory service. However, by the time the NHS started, health visiting was a very well established statutory service, although the CNO's newsletter suggested that that was when it became a statutory provision. Good to see it mentioned at all in that forum though - it is not so long ago that the term 'health visiting' was considered improper for official communications!best wishes Cowleysarahcowley183@...http://myprofile.cos.com/S124021COn