View report page

Maternity and Child Welfare.
The most noteworthy feature associated with the
Maternity and Child Welfare activities of the Borough during the
past year was the development of the Municipal Maternity Ward
Scheme, which provides institutional treatment for: —
(1) Patients showing some abnormality either during
pregnancy or at the time of labour which calls for special
medical treatment and skill, and
(2) Patients whose domestic conditions are unfavourable
for confinement in their own homes, even where a normal
labour may be expected.
The agreement which the Council entered into with the
Camberwell Board of Guardians in 1923, to set aside a Maternity
Ward containing 6 beds in St. Giles' Hospital for a period of
3 years, was renewed in November last for a further term of
3 years and the accommodation increased to two 6-bedded wards,
as the number of applications received was considerably in excess
of the accommodation available. This is evidence of a growing
desire on the part of women to be confined away from home, and
of an increasing sense of appreciation of the importance of medical
supervision during pregnancy and the advantages of constant
medical and nursing attention at the time of confinement and
during the puerperium.
It is pleasing to record that work in connection with the
arrangements for attending to the health of expectant and nursing
mothers and of children who have not attained the age of five
years has continued to be satisfactorily carried out during 1926.
The new Infant Welfare Centre which was opened at the end of
1925 at Amott Road (a branch of the Union of Girls' School
Centre, Peckham Road), has fully justified its establishment, as a
reference to the table of work of the Infant Welfare Centres which
follows will show.
The Nunhead Centre Authorities at the beginning of the year
gave up the unsatisfactory premises at 31, Nunhead Grove, and
established themselves in the Cheltenham College Mission Hall
at 96, Nunhead Grove. This arrangement, I understand, is only
temporary, and it is hoped that shortly more suitable premises
will be found or a new centre built.
Infant Welfare Centres.
The Infant Welfare work in Camberwell is undertaken by
seven Voluntary Centres (six being subsidised by the Council)
and three Municipal Centres.
A return of the work carried out in 1926 appears on the
following page.