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
Harrow 1935
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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79
had, during pregnancy, suffered very severely from varicose veins,
while in one the rise of temperature was unaccounted for.
Of the 18 patients whose confinements occurred in this district,
five were removed to hospital for treatment. All cases made
complete recoveries.
INFANT WELFARE SERVICES.
HOME VISITING BY THE HEALTH VISITORS.
Routine visits are paid to infants as soon as possible after the
14th day, and special visits are paid to cases of ophthalmia
neonatorum, puerperal infection, stillbirths, infants' deaths, etc.
Each Health Visitor is appointed Infant Protection Visitor for her
own area.
The following table shows the number of visits paid by the Health Visitors during the year:—
| (a) To expectant mothers | First visits | 489 |
| Total visits | 852 | |
| (b) To children under one year of age | First visits | 3,297 |
| Total visits | 4,603 | |
| (c) To children between the ages of one and five years | Total visits | 4,084 |
It will be noticed that the number of first visits to children
under one year of age exceeds the number of births which occurred
during the year. This apparent discrepancy is accounted for
partly by the arrears of visits and largely by the transfer of population
to the growing district. This latter factor also causes a large
amount of additional work for the Health Visitors. When a
district grows by some 12,000 inhabitants in one year, the transferred
population contains not only a large number of new babies
but also of toddlers who are new to the health visiting staff.
INFANT WELFARE CENTRES.
At the beginning of the year there were 14 weekly sessions
held at eight separate premises. Six of these, held at four separate
premises, were conducted by the staff of the Middlesex County
Council. From the end of January, when the Middlesex County
Council discontinued the maternity and child welfare services
which they had provided in the former Hendon Rural District, all
clinics were maintained by the Harrow Council. The areas which
served the various clinics were rearranged so that mothers were
enabled, in many cases, to attend clinics nearer their homes. This
led to the closing of one of the sessions at Lowlands Road Hall and
the closing of a session at the Harrow Weald Memorial Hall, but
a balancing additional session being opened at the Broadway
Clinic. By June the attendance at the Stanmore Clinic necessitated