London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Lambeth 1942

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lambeth Borough]

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Obstetric and Gynaecological Consultants.
No calls (No calls)
Convalescent Hone for children between 2 and 5 years of age.
The Council agreed at the end of November to
maintain two beds at the Byfleet Home for toddlers requiring
convalescence and the beds were occupied at once. In the
short time the scheme has been working the accommodation
was so much sought after that the Council agreed to take two
more beds In April of this year. An extension of the service
to take mothers as well as children as was the case in the
Zacchary Merton Home before the war is not yet possible.

Wartime Nurseries.

Wartime Nursery.Accommodation.Date opened.
under 2 yrs.2-5 yrs.
Cowley12814.7.1941.
Tulse Hill203017.12.1941.
Black Prince20404.2.1942.
Elder Road-3030.3.1942.
Annie McCall36395.8.1942.
St. Johns252024.9.1942.

The Council decided at the end of the year that
premises for future wartime nurseries should be altered
or erected by the Borough Engineer's department instead of
the Public Health department. The Council with the
approval of the Ministry of Health intend to open other
wartime nurseries at one of which, Coldharbour Lane, work
had begun at the end of the year'and which will open shortly.
Other projected nurseries are at sites in Coral Street, S.E.1.,
the Oval, S.E.ll., Gipsy Hill, S.E.19., Chestnut Road, S.E.27.
The difficulty of providing accommodation for the
staff who desire to live in but work in hutted nurseries led
the Council to suggest to the Ministry of Health that they
might be allowed to open the Nurses' Home in Sancroft Street
which was completed a year or so before the war and housed
the nursing staff of the St. Thomas's Babies Hostel - as a
hostel for the purpose. The ground floor of the building
accommodates the Moffat Welfare Centre and the upper part of
the building now the nurses' hostel is openand already
half full. With several nurseries planned or building and
not yet ready for occupation the spare bedrooms will soon
be filled.
The staffing, control and administration of the
nurseries now open is no light or easy task more especially
ajf■►administrative personnel are difficult to obtain and hard
to"keep in the present circumstances. With the approval
of the Board of Education the borough is divided so that a
certificated nursery teacher is in charge of each district
and is responsible for all the nurseries in the district
while a warden is in charge of each nursery 3cJiool under the
nursery teacher.
Milk Assistance Scheme.
Only 607-| (1,101) gallons of milk were provided
free during the year compared with 42,277 gallons in 1940
which indicates the'extent to which the national milk scheme
has taken the place of the local one.
5.