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
Dagenham 1928
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Dagenham]
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Work of the Health Visitors.
Routine visits are paid to infants as soon as possible after
the tenth day, and special visits are paid respecting cases of
Ophthalmia Neonatorum, Puerperal Fever, following up operations
for Tonsils and Adenoids, etc.
During the year the Health Visitors paid the following visits: —
| First visit to children under one year | 2,071 |
| Subsequent visits to these children | 940 |
| First visits to children 1 to 5 | 651 |
| Subsequent visits to children 1 to 5 | 468 |
| Visits to expectant mothers | 364 |
Work at the Clinics.
| Infant Welfare Centres: — | |
| Total number of sessions held | 237 |
| Total attendances of children over 1 year | 5,168 |
| Total attendances of children under 1 year | 8,935 |
| Average attendance of children per session | 60 |
| Number of individual children | 1,710 |
Ante-natal Clinics: —
| Total number of sessions held | 89 |
| Total attendances of mothers | 984 |
| Average attendance per session | 11 |
| Number of first attendances | 379 |
Infant Welfare Centres.
The number of Clinics at the end of the year was 6 compared
with 3 at the beginning. More are required to meet the needs
of sections of the population for whom the existing clinics are
too distant. The district is handicapped in that there is a long
interval between development of any new section and erection
thereon of any premises suitable for Clinic purposes.
All the centres are maintained by the Local Authority, there
being at each two Health Visitors, and a clerk dealing with the
distribution of food stuffs.
In view of the large attendances at the Clinics, the services
of voluntary helpers would materially help in maintaining order
while leaving the Health Visitors to approach the mothers either