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18
Maternity and Child Welfare.
The work in connection with the Council's Maternity
and Child Welfare scheme has been carried out during
the year on the lines very fully detailed in the report
by your late Medical Officer of Health for the year
1919 and in my report for 1922. I shall, therefore,
in this year's report only deal briefly with the subject.
Notification of Births.—Notifications of the births
of 2,862 living children and 75 stillborn children were
received during the year under the Notification of
Births Act, 91.6 per cent, of births registered being
notified. Of these 2,145 or 75 per cent, were notified
by midwives, 591 by doctors and 201 by the parents
or other persons present at the birth.
Visitation of Mothers and Babies.—The visits paid
during the year by the Health Visitors were as follows :
First visits to infants 2,836
Revisits to infants 8,442
Revisits to children 1 to 5 years 6,084
Visits to cases of Ophthalmia Neonatorum 22
„ ,, Measles 1,873
„ „ Pneumonia 49
„ ,, Diarrhoea 74
„ „ Puerperal Fever 33
Other visits 508
Infant Welfare Centres.—The Infant Welfare Centres
have been carried on as before by the Voluntary Infant
Welfare Committee. Owing to a reduction in the
voluntary subscriptions, it was necessary for the
Borough Council to increase its grant to this Committee
to £500 per annum, instead of £250, as before. The
work performed by these centres is a very valuable
part of the Borough's infant welfare campaign, and
much of its success is due to the energy and enthusiasm
of Miss Williams, the Superintendent of the Centres,
who is ably backed up in her efforts by the Borough
Health Visitors. A famous French physician has
said that "an Infant Welfare Centre is worth just as
much as the presiding physician." If this is indeed
a fact, then the Borough Council are fortunate in that
Dr. Ruby Thomson, Dr. G. F. Hardy and Dr. Florence