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24
REPORT ON MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE
CENTRES AND DENTAL CLINIC, 1935.
By Dr. F. M. Parsons, Medical Officer to the Ante-natal and
Child Welfare Centres, Anaesthetist to Dental Clinic.
Child Welfare.
Child welfare sessions continue to be held at six centres, thus
serving every part of the Borough. At the Parish Room, Sherwood
Park and Western Road Centres two sessions are held each month,
and the doctor attends each one. At the Cavendish Road,
Meopham Road and St. Barnabas Centres four sessions are held
each month. At the Cavendish Road and St. Barnabas Centres
the doctor attends twice each month. Since May, 1935, the doctor
has attended each of the four sessions at the Meopham Road
Centre.
At the Sherwood Park Centre an increased number of sessions
is urgently needed. This Centre serves a very rapidly growing
area, and the existing accommodation at Sherwood House, to which
the clinic was moved on December 6, 1934, has already proved
insufficient for the large numbers of mothers and children who
attend there. This difficulty could be overcome by doubling the
number of sessions held there.
The total number of attendances at the six infant welfare
centres was 9,833, as compared with 9,058 in 1934. Of these, 872
were new cases, 635 being infants under one year of age and 237
being children over one but under five years of age. The total
number of attendances under one year of age was 6,700, and of
children between one and five years 3,133.
At the end of the year there were 482 infants under one year
and 987 children between one and five years attending the centres.
The average attendance at each individual centre was:—
Cavendish Road 41.8
Meopham Road 52.4
Parish Room 45.5
Sherwood Park 54.6
St. Barnabas 65.8
Western Road 44.5
giving an average for all centres of 50, as compared with 46 in 1934.