London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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28
Health Visiting Staff.
The council's health visiting staff for the maternity and child welfare scheme consists of seven
women health officers and three health visitors. All are general-trained state-registered nurses
and qualified health visitors.
Within twenty-one days of a birth one of the above officers calls at the home, advises the mother
in any difficulty which may have arisen since she left the hospital or was discharged by the midwife,
satisfies herself that the baby is receiving proper care and makes an appointment for the mother
to attend the welfare centre in her district. In all cases the baby, even when attending the
centre, is visited at home at least every two months. Special attention is paid to the early recognition
of physical defects in the pre-school child and their remedy by treatment.
Ante-natal visits are paid to the expectant mother, special attention being paid to first
pregnancies.
The large floating or migrant population of North Kensington which is continually moving in or
out of the borough has rendered it difficult for the health visitors to keep all families under adequate
supervision. For the last year the council have arranged for these officers to allot a certain time to
the systematic house-to-house visiting of the streets in their area in a search for children who were
unknown to them. One hundred and two streets have been visited in this process of combing and
3,574 houses investigated, and an additional 27 infants and 223 toddlers have been brought under
supervision by this means.
In addition to the routine visiting of expectant mothers, infants and young children and to their
work at the welfare centres, the council's health visiting staff investigate cases of still-birth and
infantile death ; they visit and report upon cases of ophthalmia neonatorum, puerperal fever and
puerperal pyrexia ; they visit and advise the parents on cases of infectious disease amongst infants
and young children and help to obtain any necessary treatment; they arrange for the admission
of women to the maternity home and to convalescent homes, and they investigate all applications
under the council's scheme for the supply of milk and dinners, home helps and so forth.
The work performed by the health visiting staff during 1937 in regard to maternity and child welfare is summarised in the following table:—
| Description of work. | Health Officers. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | * No. 6 | No. 7 | * No. 8 | No. 9 | No. 10 | Total. | |
| First visits to infants (0-1 year) | 61 | 71 | 224 | 235 | 190 | 111 | 140 | 53 | 242 | 221 | 1,548 |
| Re-visits to infants (0-1 year) | 696 | 519 | 317 | 676 | 601 | 644 | 855 | 439 | 293 | 712 | 5,752 |
| Visits to children between 1 and 5 years | 1,121 | 1,105 | 860 | 1,261 | 1,065 | 750 | 1,027 | 491 | 673 | 1,245 | 9,598 |
| Still-birth enquiries | — | — | 10 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 42 |
| Visits to ophthalmia cases | 1 | — | 1 | 2 | 1 | — | 3 | — | 3 | — | 11 |
| Return visits to ophthalmia cases | 1 | - | 7 | 5 | 1 | - | 27 | - | 1 | - | 42 |
| Visits to measles cases | 1 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 26 | — | 22 | 22 | 104 |
| Visits to whooping cough cases | 3 | 4 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 17 | 27 | 3 | 10 | 57 | 175 |
| Visits to puerperal fever cases | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | 2 | — | 4 |
| Visits to puerperal pyrexia cases | — | — | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | — | 5 | 1 | 18 |
| Visits to enteritis cases | 2 | 2 | 34 | 20 | 6 | 24 | 5 | — | 8 | 7 | 108 |
| Infantile death enquiries | 2 | 6 | 20 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 12 | — | 34 | 23 | 131 |
| Investigations re milk applications | 166 | 313 | 458 | 575 | 405 | 341 | 360 | 44 | 878 | 201 | 3,741 |
| Ante-natal visits | 263 | 209 | 286 | 322 | 345 | 260 | 134 | 288 | 135 | 541 | 2,783 |
| Half-days at welfare centres | 168 | 160 | 108 | 164 | 159 | 143 | 144 | 151 | 132 | 188 | 1,517 |
| Special visits | 290 | 314 | 1,071 | 823 | 577 | 623 | 647 | 113 | 714 | 737 | 5,909 |
* These officers commenced health visiting on the 1st April, 1937.
The visiting in connection with tuberculosis and factories and workshops is dealt with in the
sections of this report dealing with those subjects.
Infant Welfare Centres.
There are seven infant welfare centres of which one (South Kensington) has a branch centre
at Campden Hill. Six were conducted by voluntary committees, but on the 1st April, 1937, two
of these came under municipal control, and there are now three municipal centres and four