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45
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
consists of a matron, day and night nurse, and a relief nurse, who
is on duty two whole days a week. There is also one domestic
servant. The Medical Officer is running the home with the smallest
staff on economic grounds. Should a child be admitted who is
very ill, an additional nurse would have to be engaged. The
minimum charge is 5s. a week. No child is admitted free except
in cases of extreme poverty. The estimated cost for one year
under present conditions is £1,000, exclusive of equipment,
for which a grant of £515 was made by the Children's Jewel
Fund.
Cases of illness among children in the Borough are admitted
to the various Infants' and General Hospitals in London.
(a) Dental Work. Arrangements could be made by the
Borough Council with the Committee of the British Dentists'
Hospital, 23, South Side, Clapham Common, for the dental treatment
of children up to five years of age attending the Infant Welfare
Centres in the Borough, or when referred to them by the Medical
Officer of Health.
The treatment would include fillings and scalings, and payment
would be 5s. per head for the completion of any dental case when
no general anaesthetic is required, and 7s. for each case requiring
nitrous oxide. Payment would be made quarterly.
The estimated cost of this should not exceed £100 per
annum.
2.—Lying-in Homes. There are no institutions in this Borough
providing free treatment for lying-in cases, except the Poor Law
Institutions. The South London Hospital for Women, Clapham
Common, takes operative cases only, and a charge is made.
267 women belonging to this Borough were confined at various
lying-in institutions in other parts of London during the year 1917,