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15
At Welbeck Street, between the middle of July and the end of the year,
46 visits were paid by 26 mothers. At Church Street, 20 mothers attended the
clinic.
Another very useful piece of work performed on behalf of the mothers, to
which reference should be made, is that carried on by the Women's League of
Social Service. At the restaurant, established by this body in Lisson Street, dinners
for expectant and nursing mothers are provided at a small charge, and are greatly
appreciated.
The amount of work done at the infant consultations may be judged from the
following figures:—
In North Marylebone the number of attendances at the consultations held at the
Portman Club, Church Street, under Drs. Christine Murrell and Emily Mecredy,
was 2,690, as against 2,098 in 1914. The total number of babies seen was 355.
The number of mothers attending the courses at the School of Mothercraft was 158.
In South Marylebone 305 babies were seen at the consultations conducted by
Dr. Eric Pritchard at the Marylebone General Dispensary, Welbeck Street. The
total number of attendances was 1,624. The number of women attending classes
was 116.
The total number of visits to homes by voluntary workers was 3,077—1,721 in
the north district, and 1,356 in the south. These were supplementary to the visits
paid by the Women Inspectors, which numbered 3,620.
The women inspectors also visited a number of the addresses at which deaths
of infants had occurred.
The Health Society, it may be noted, received grants from the Board of
Education and Local Government Board in respect of the work done.
DEATHS IN RELATION TO DISEASE.
In previous reports, it has been the practice to introduce some few notes with
regard to some of the outstanding causes of death, additional to the figures contained
in the tables of the Local Government Board.
Diarrhceal Diseases.—The total number of deaths registered as due to
diarrhoea and enteritis (inflammation of the bowels) was 38, equal to 0.37 per
1,000 of the population.
As usual, the majority of the deaths, viz., 31, occurred amongst infants under
1 year of age. In 1914 the number of deaths was 36, and the rate per 1,000
was 0.31.
Variations in the diarrhoea figure are dependant partly on climatic and partly on
sanitary conditions, and a great part of the Council's work is carried out with the
intention of reducing the amount of diarrhoea by improving the sanitary conditions.
The improvement that has taken place in recent years in this connection may
be taken as a measure of the success of the work done.