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
Carshalton 1948
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Carshalton]
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MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Public Health Act, 1936—Section 203.
The number of births notified up to and including 4th July as adjusted by transferred notifications, was as follows
| Live births | 499 | Notified by mid wives | 409 |
| Stillbirths | 8 | Notified by doctors | 27 |
| Transferred notifications | 71 | ||
| 507 | 507 |
Health Visiting.
An increasing number of births and the widening scope of the
Service made it necessary to augment the staff of Health Visitors and
this was increased to six in May. Health visiting was, as a result, on
an improved scale compared with the year before. The visits made
by the Health Visitors up to the 4th July, were as follows :—
| First Visits | Total Visits | |
|---|---|---|
| To expectant mothers | 140 | 158 |
| To children under 1 year | 326 | 1,693 |
| To children 1-5 years | 2,550 | |
| Child Life Protection | 45 | |
| Adoption (Regulation) Act | 14 | |
| Miscellaneous | 857 | |
| 5,317 |
Clinic Activities.
In March a separate ante-natal session was established at the
Methodist Central Hall, Green Lane, and is held on Thursday mornings.
Attendances at the infant clinics were on a higher scale than in the
previous year, the average attendance per session up to the 4th July,
rising from 49.3 to 53.8. The number of babies attending for the first
time during the half year, represented no less than 86% of the births
in that period compared with 75% for the whole of 1947.
The lower birth-rate was reflected in a somewhat reduced number
of mothers attending the ante-natal clinics, but the percentage in
relation to the total births for the period was unchanged at 53.
Routine Medical Inspection of Toddlers.
Special sessions for the routine medical inspection of children in
their second, third and fourth years, are held at three of the welfare
centres, Rochester Road, Wrythe Lane and Stanley Road. The
number of such examinations carried out in the half-year was 637,
which was at a higher rate than ever before. Of this number, 417
children were found to have 491 defects, rather more than half of
which were recommended for treatment. An analysis of the defects
found is given in Table 12.
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