View report page

30
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Report by the Medical Officer in Charge of the Maternity and Child Welfare Department
(Miss Ruby Thomson, M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H.) on the work of the Department.
The work of the Maternity and Child Welfare Department has been carried on during
1935 on the general lines described in previous reports. My illness, during eight months of
the year, necessitated certain changes in the medical staff. Dr. Barrett acted for me at the
Town Hall. Dr. Wakeford had charge of the Babies' Hospital and the Maternity Home.
For my clinics we were fortunate in obtaining the services of Dr. Louise Mathcson.
Dr. Matheson is familiar with the borough and quickly settled into the work.
HEALTH VISITORS.
There were seven Health Visitors on the Staff during 1935, and each was responsible for
the home visiting in one-seventh of the Borough. The foundations of Maternity and Child
Welfare work are laid in the homes, and upon the tact and efficiency of the Health Visitor
depends, in a large measure, the success or otherwise of the work of the Department.
Except in the cases of mothers who are receiving free grants of milk, and who are therefore
compelled to attend the Welfare Centres, it depends upon the personality and influence
of the Health Visitor, to a great extent, as to how many of the mothers on her district come
to the clinics. The Health Visitor has no "right of entry" into any house for ordinary
visiting purposes, and it is fortunate that the Staff find few difficulties due to this drawback.
It may be of interest to consider the wide extent of the knowledge and experience of
the Health Visitors. All are fully trained nurses, holding the Certificate of the Central Midwives
Board and the Health Visitor's Certificate, representing years of study and practical
work. In addition to these essential qualifications, each one has specialised in one or other
branch of nursing; for instance, three are trained Queen's Nurses; one is a fever-trained
nurse; one has special training in venereal diseases and in tropical diseases; two have special
experience in actino-therapy with, in one case, a special knowledge of massage; and all have
had a wide experience of midwifery and the special diseases of women and children. There
can, therefore, be few conditions occurring in the family where scientific nursing advice
cannot be obtained from the Town Hall; and it should be remembered that this advice can be
obtained for the asking and is given ungrudgingly.
The whole Department is controlled by the provisions of the Maternity and Child Welfare
Act, 1918, and a large proportion of the work of the Health Visitors is directly dependent
on the Notification of Births Acts, 1907 and 1915, which make compulsory the notification of
every birth to the Medical Officer of Health within 48 hours. The Health Visitor calls as
soon as the period of attendance by the doctor or midwife has ended, i.e., eleven days after
the birth of the child. This is done in all cases, whether the child has been born in an institution
or at home.
Advice is given on the general management of all children under five, and where there
is an infant the importance of breast-feeding is stressed. Anything which may affect the wellbeing
of the home is the concern of the Health Visitor, and mothers are encouraged to place
their children under regular medical supervision, through the Welfare Centres or otherwise.
In spite of all that is done to promote breast-feeding, artificial feeding is increasingly
prevalent. It seems to be so much easier, when natural feeding becomes difficult, to buy a
tin of some much advertised infant food than to persevere with the natural method. It is
often very difficult to persuade a mother that the line of least resistance is frequently not
the right one.