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The growth of the work is made clear from the following figures which show the total attendances
of children at the seven Infant Welfare Centres for all purposes in each of the last five years.
Total Attendances
Year. of Children.
1921 33,695
1922 39,096
1923 40,859
1924 40,286
1925 41,312
General Observations on the Work of the Infant Welfare Centres.
Infant Consultation Sessions are held by medical officers in all Centres in the afternoons from
2 to 4 p.m. At the Lancaster Road Centre there-is a session held on Thursday mornings from
10 a.m. to 12 noon. At five Centres there are two sessions per week ; at Lancaster Road Centre
three sessions per week ; and at Bramley Road there are three in addition to the weekly session at
the Branch in Kenley Street. The Centres are in every case fortunate in having very able and
keen medical officers who show considerable interest in their work.
Ante-Natal Clinics.—In 1921, four out of the seven Infant Welfare Centres had special antenatal
clinics and at the other three Centres expectant mothers were seen privately at the ordinary
infant consultations. The total number of ante-natal sessions held during that year was 92. At
the present time, special ante-natal clinics are held at every Centre but Golborne, and during the
past year 137 sessions were held. At the Golborne Centre, expectant mothers are seen privately
on Infant Consultation days.
The work of ante-natal consultations is growing as it becomes better known amongst mothers,
and, in view of the excellent arrangements made by the Voluntary Committees, it is to be hoped
that mothers will take full advantage of them, and thus remove as far as possible all danger of
disease and accident in their confinements.
In order to further the ante-natal work in Kensington, the Advisory Committee, in April, 1921,
prepared a scheme for promoting closer co-operation between midwives and the Infant Welfare
Centres, under which arrangements were made for the doctors of the Infant Welfare Centres to give
ante-natal advice at the request of the midwives to all women who had " booked " with them.
Under this scheme, when the doctor has made the examination and given adequate advice, the
expectant mother is told to return to the midwife and the doctor later forwards a report on the case.
Home Visiting.—The Council's Women Health Officers receive all notifications of birth, and
these are transferred to History Cards. They pay " first visits " to infants in order to ascertain
certain information required by the Council in respect of births. If the mother of the child is in
regular attendance at an Infant Welfare Centre, the Health Officer transfers the History Card to the
Welfare Sister who pays the subsequent home visits. Apart from " first visits," the Council's
Health Officer confines her attention to cases not in attendance at Welfare Centres or to difficult
cases transferred back to her by the Welfare Sister.
Education in Health.—School medical inspections .and Maternity and Child Welfare work
have revealed that large numbers of children are suffering from preventable ailments and defects
which are likely to impair their development and which are in a large degree attributable to
insufficient knowledge of the simple rules of health on the part of mothers. It is this lack of
knowledge which the Infant Welfare Centres are especially designed to meet. For some time
past, lectures have been given to mothers by Women Health Officers and Welfare Sisters
but these ladies are not appointed as lecturers and, owing to the rush of work on consultaion days,
they have experienced difficulty in finding suitable opportunities for addressing groups of mothers.
The Borough Maternity and Child Welfare Committee are satisfied that the Infant Welfare
organisation in Kensington in regard to consultations is fairly complete and feel that no advancement
can be made except by the provision of more efficient instruction in mothercraft, domestic
hygiene, nutrition, food values, cooking, etc., for the mothers.
In order to meet this want, they have during the course of the year recommended the Council
to appoint a qualified person to organise and conduct a continuous educational campaign in public
and personal hygiene amongst those members of the community who most need enlightenment in
the interests of themselves, their families and those with whom they come in contact. The Council
and the Ministry of Health approved of this proposal and a woman lecturer was appointed in the
early part of 1926, 1 he officer appointed is now lecturing at Infant Welfare Centres on consultation
days, at Ante-Natal Clinics, Women's and Girls' Clubs, etc.