BMJ 1998;317:1390 ( 14 November )

Letters

Single parents need home visits by health visitors

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---Fleming and Charlton have shown that children of single parents receive fewer immunisations and have more accidents than children in other households.1 Both of these areas are regarded as priorities for intervention by community services undertaking child health surveillance,2 and Fleming and Charlton consider that single parents should be particularly targeted.

I have undertaken a survey of baby clinics run by health visitors to determine who attends. These clinics are easily accessible to parents, with no appointment required, and are seen by the health visitors as providing an opportunity to offer advice on feeding and growth, other health promotion advice, and opportunistic immunisations.3 I looked at two urban practices in west London, which had (from 1991 census figures) 3.4% of households with single parents, 8% unemployment, and 85% of households classified as owner occupied. Information was obtainable for 418 (96%) of the 434 children aged under 2 years for attendances at the . . . [Full text of this article]
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Relevant Article

Morbidity and healthcare utilisation of children in households with one adult: comparative observational study
D M Fleming and J R H Charlton
BMJ 1998 316: 1572-1576. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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