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APPENDIX NO. 1.
14TH JUNE, 1948.
To the Chairman and Members of the Public Health Committee.
Aldermen and Councillors,
The Maternity and Child Welfare Services, 1920-1947.
The Maternity and Child Welfare Services like other services for which the
Public Health Department is responsible have undergone vast changes during the
years between 1920-1947.
The Notification of Births (Extension) Act, 1915, which made universal
throughout the country the system of giving early information to the Medical
Officer of Health of all births occurring in the area of a local authority was the
stepping stone to the Maternity and Child Welfare Services as they exist to-day.
This Act also enabled local authorities to make arrangements for the care of
mothers including expectant mothers and young children.
To encourage the promotion of schemes the Government of that day agreed
to provide, by means of annual grants, payment to local authorities of one-half the
cost of the whole or any part of schemes for Maternity and Child Welfare approved
by the Local Government Board.
It was not until the year 1920 when the Council appointed an Assistant
Medical Officer of Health, followed by the appointment of two Health Visitors in
1921, that the foundations were laid for a service which eventually has grown to
cover a wide field of activities and has touched every aspect of the health of the
mother and child.
Previously the Council's activities were limited to the administration of the
Milk (Mothers and Children) Order, 1919, the payment of grants to various
Voluntary Associations in aid of their work of maintaining Infant Welfare Centres
and the employment of Health Visitors in certain areas of the Borough. Two
hostels whose special care was the well-being of mothers and their illegitimate
infants received financial assistance from the Council as well as the authorities of
two day nurseries and a Nursing Association undertaking the nursing care of
certain ailments in children.
The year 1921 saw the establishment of the first Municipal Infant Welfare
Centre and the provision of a Municipal Ante-natal Clinic at the same premises in
Camberwell Road. These premises, although far from being ideal for the purpose
for which they were used, had the great advantage of being ready for
occupation.
Later in the same year another Municipal Infant Welfare Centre was opened
in Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, at premises belonging to the Trustees of the
Wesleyan Mission Hall. Here again the premises left much to be desired for the
service to be undertaken, but the need for a Centre in that part of the Borough
was so great that as there was no alternative premises available in the district, the
Council considered it desirable to enter into a tenancy agreement with the Trustees.
This agreement continued to the time of the purchase by the Council of the freehold
interest in the property in 1938.