London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hammersmith 1926
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health of the Borough of Hammersmith for the year 1926
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102
I have advised the Council that the number of Health
Visitors is too small. It is impossible for three Health
Visitors to adequately visit and keep under observation
over 2,000 new babies each year, and also keep in touch
with all children up to the age of five years.
A large proportion of deaths of children under 1 year
occur in the first few weeks, and it is during this period
that the advice of the Health Visitors is most essential.
As I have already said it is impossible to carry on with
the present staff.
The visits paid are enumerated in detail below:—
| First visits | 1,905 |
| Re-visits (under 1 year) | 2,230 |
| Be-visits (1 to 5 years) | 1,345 |
| Out and removals | 2,090 |
| Special visits | 424 |
| Ophthalmia, first visits | 23 |
| Ophthalmia Be-visits | 8 |
| Puerperal Fever | 7 |
| Puerperal Pyrexia | 5 |
| Ante-natal, first visits | 422 |
| Ante-natal, re-visits | 64 |
| Visits to Stillbirths | 56 |
| Visits to Infant Deaths | 130 |
| Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis | — |
| Encephalitis Lethargica | 6 |
| Poliomyelitis | — |
| Epidemic Diarrhoea | 1 |
| Total | 8,716 |
Number of Consultations at Infant Welfare Centres,
attended by Health Visitors 430
Number of Committee Meetings of Voluntary Associations
attended 42
Number of Insanitary Conditions reported by Health
Visitors and dealt with by Sanitary Inspectors 41
The feeding of the2,078 infants visited was found to be as follows:—
| Breast-feeding | 1,685 |
| Artificial feeding | 142 |
| Mixed feeding | 78 |
Every effort is made by the Health Visitors to encourage
mothers to breast-feed their infants, and also to induce them
to attend the Consultations at the Infant Welfare Centres, so
that both mother and child may be kept under observation
during the most critical months of the child's life.