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
Battersea 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Battersea Borough]
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27
The subjects discussed included—Dental care, Education, Local
Government machinery, Blood transfusion, Hygiene.
A cricket club was formed and arrangements made for winter
practice in preparation for matches during the season. Though
not an integral part of the Council's Maternity and Child Welfare
scheme the work is of definite value and is looked on with approval
by the Ministry of Health.
Health Visitors.
The Health Visiting Staff, the personnel of which is shown on
page 3, consists of 14 Health Visitors, two of whom are partly
employed as women Sanitary Inspectors.
Facilities are granted by the Council to students of recognised
training bodies for practical instruction and training as health
visitors and women sanitary inspectors. During the year nine
students from the Hygiene Department, Battersea Polytechnic,
received a course of training under the Council's Maternity and
Child Welfare scheme, and, on completion of their training, certificates
as to their work were supplied to the Polytechnic authorities.
The home visiting carried out during 1938 by the Council's health visitors and those of the voluntary organisations included in the Borough Maternity and Child Welfare scheme is summarised in the following table:—
| Visits. | Council. | Vol. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expectant mothers | 4,632 | 312 | 4,944 |
| Notified births | 10,755 | 674 | 11,429 |
| Still-births | 59 | 4 | 63 |
| Children aged 1-5 years | 7,386 | 738 | 8,124 |
| Infant deaths | 115 | 20 | 135 |
| Notifiable infectious disease | 4,572 | 209 | 4,781 |
| Non-notifiable disease | 181 | 34 | 215 |
| Prevention of diphtheria | 125 | 18 | 143 |
| Dental cases | 72 | 2 | 74 |
| V.D. cases | 2 | — | 2 |
| Maternal deaths | 6 | — | 6 |
| Foster mothers and children | 813 | — | 813 |
| Other | 1,062 | 127 | 1,189 |
| Totals | 29,780 | 2,138 | 31,918 |
Hospital Provision.
In addition to the provision of midwifery services, hospital
and district, the Council have made provision for the needs of
children requiring special hospital treatment by arrangement with
the Victoria Hospital for Children, Chelsea, and the St. Thomas's
Babies' Hostel (vide page 47). The Council make an annual
grant to these Hospitals in respect of the facilities afforded (vide
page 22). Women and children are referred where necessary
from the ante-natal and child welfare centres to appropriate
institutions, children being usually sent to one of the above
named hospitals.