View report page

4
Maternity and Child Welfare.
The activities of the Council under this heading were continued
during 1943 with only a few variations noted below.
Grants.—No variation was made in the grants paid by the Council
to various bodies carrying on work ancillary to the scheme for maternity
and child welfare.
Visiting.—The Health Visitors paid 9,144 home visits to children
under 1 and 5,888 to children between 1 and 5. The total number of
home visits for all purposes during the year paid by Health Visitors
was 31,298.
Infant Welfare Centres.—716 sessions, 27,181 attendances. Owing
to the falling off of the attendances at the St. James Mission Welfare
Centre, Nine Elms, it was decided at the end of the year to suspend the
meetings of this centre until after the war.
Ante-Natal Clinics.—206 sessions, 3,571 attendances. An additional
ante-natal clinic was established at the Gideon Road Centre in fune.
Mothercraft Classes.—243 meetings, 4,039 attendances.
Dental Clinic.—Following the destruction of the Dental Clinic by
enemy action, arrangements were made with the London County
Council for dental treatment to be carried out at St. James's Hospital,
this service commencing in March, 1941. During the year 186 mothers
and 75 children were referred to the Clinic, and of these 58 mothers and
38 children had attended.
Hospitals.—848 cases were referred to hospitals, etc., from the
Welfare Centres, and 3,535 visits were paid at the request of various
hospitals, etc.
National Dried Mil^ and Vitamins.—Throughout the year, National
dried milk and fruit juice and cod liver oil, supplied by the Ministry of
Food, have been distributed to children and expectant mothers through
the Public Health Department and the Welfare and Ante-natal Clinics.
The totals issued through these sources during the year were: National
Dried Milk, 10,347 packets ; Fruit Juice, 64,604 bottles ; Cod Liver Oil,
7,705 bottles and 1,154 packets of capsules.
Supplementary Clothing Coupons.—Despite protests to the Ministry
of Health, it was decided that supplementary clothes coupons to
expectant mothers should be issued from Food Offices instead of, as
hitherto, from Public Health Departments. The changeover took place
in July and up to that time 1,002 books had been issued.
Dinners.—Women and children were still sent for dinners to the
dining rooms of the Women's League of Service at Southlands. The
Invalid Kitchens Association also supplied meals during the year from a
kitchen established in Balham, the dinners being delivered at the home
of the patient.