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
Merton and Morden 1948
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Merton & Morden]
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forthcoming in certain parts of the area, so that there have
been difficulties in some of the clinics. Some of those that are
working with us at this moment have been with us for many
years and I welcome this opportunity to pay tribute to their
constancy and their devotion and to express my gratitude for
the work they do for us. While their work remains unrewarded
it is by no means unrecognised. Their names appear with those
others of us, hewers of wood and drawers of water, on page 7.
of this report.
Child Life Protection. It will be seen from the tabulated
statement below that this important part of the health visitors'
work has not decreased as a result of the setting up of a special
Children's Committee. Under the present arrangements the special
knowledge and experience of the health visitors in this work
continues to be utilised by making every fostering conditional
on a satisfactory report on the home conditions by a health
visitor in the first place. So that, whereas their responsibilities
were previously confined to the "under nine" age groups, they
now report on all age groups. This has resulted in an increase
in their work, 216 visits having been paid this year as compared
with 114 last year.
The following are the main facts relating to child life protection work during the year:—
| Registered homes under supervision during the year | 15 |
| Registered homes under supervision at the end of year | 9 |
| New homes registered during the year | 13 |
| Children on register at end of year | 13 |
| Children brought on to register during year | 20 |
| Children removed out of district during year | 18 |
| Visits paid to nurse children | 216 |
| Number of children who died during year | Nil |
| Number of cases where legal proceedings were taken | Nil |
Day Nurseries. The two Nurseries, Middleton Road and
Morden Road, each of 60 places, have continued to be maintained
during the year. At the end of the year there were 49
on the waiting list at the Middleton Road Nursery and 76 at the
Nursery at Morden Road. While the need for nurseries at their
present cost on educational grounds alone—in view of the
difficulties of recruiting adequately trained staff—may be disputed,
it is difficult to see what alternative provision can be found for
the child of the husbandless woman striving to rear her family
by her own efforts. Table XIII shows that the Nurseries are
running at full pressure, in fact so pressing is the demand for
accommodation that, from time to time, the highest total
attendance is sometimes in excess of the recognised number of
places.
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