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22
Infant Welfare Centres.—The Infant Welfare
Centres in Fulham are carried on by a Voluntary
Committee. This Committee has done excellent work
for many years, and prior to 1919 it carried on purely
on a voluntary basis and without any close co-operation
with the other elements in the Infant Welfare Scheme.
In 1919, however, the Borough Council adopted a
scheme of co-ordination of all the Maternity and Child
Welfare work of the Borough, and since that time the
Infant Welfare Centres have continued to be managed
by the Voluntary Committee and their work has been
closely linked up with the other parts of the scheme.
In connection with the present agreement between the
Council and the Voluntary Committee the following
are some of the more important conditions:—
1. The Council pay to the Voluntary Committee
the sum of £500 per annum, one half of which is
repaid to the Council by the Ministry of
Health.
2. The Council provides the necessary medical
staff for the centres ; this is done partly
by the whole-time Assistant Medical Officers
of the Council and partly by part-time Medical
Officers. The Council arranges for their
Health Visitors to attend the centres as and
when required.
3. The Voluntary Committee provides the requisite
staff for the conduct of the centres other than
the medical staff and the Health Visitors.
In practice this has meant the provision of a
lady superintendent, an assistant superintendent
and caretakers.
4. The Council is represented by three persons on
the Voluntary Committee.
5. The centres must be maintained and conducted
to the satisfaction in all respects of the Council
and their Medical Officer of Health, who shall
be considered as Medical Superintendent of
the Centres.