View report page

74
These Health Visitors serve as the direct link between the Borough
Council and the work of the centres. It is among their duties to attend
consultations at the Centres, so as to hear the advice given by the doctor
to the mother, and being the only officer visiting the mother in the home,
she endeavours to see that the advice given at the Centres is carried out.
The rapid increase in the work involved by administering
the provisions of the Act, especially in connection with the issue of
milk and food orders, checking of accounts, &c., proved to be such that
in February the Council decided to appoint a clerk in the Public Health
Department to deal with the additional work, and Miss E. M. Blakeman
(who had been a temporary clerk for over four years while the permanent
clerical staff were on active service), was selected for the
position. In addition, one of the temporary clerks was detailed to assist
in the clerical work associated with this subject.

The Council's Health Visitor, Mrs. Roche, visits shortly after
information of the birth has been received. By the Notification of
Births Act, 1907, all births must be notified to the Medical Officer of
Health within 36 hours of their occurrence. This is in addition to their
usual registration with the Registrar of Births.
The following statement shows the source of information, &c., of
live births notified during 1920. As births have to be notified much
sooner than registered, the total number notified differs from the number
registered:—
Notified by midwives 542
„ parents 439
,, doctors 394
„ nurses and others 227
1602
In 144 cases the notification was not made until I had drawn the
attention of the responsible person to the omission.