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48
Centres difficult for the mothers. It may well be doubted,
however, whether the ordinary public elementary school is
the most suitable provision for the toddler, nor are the
school medical treatment facilities quite appropriate for
very young children.
The solution seems to lie in the pooling of the resources
of the Maternity and Child Welfare and Education Authorities
in a joint scheme. The features of such a scheme I
think should be:—
(a) A Welfare Centre in each ward of the Borough,
sufficiently near to every home to make attendance
easy. (The Borough Council has already adopted
this principle, has centres in two wards, and is
only waiting for sites to be available for such centres
in the other two wards.)
(b) The provision at each centre of facilities not only
for medical inspection and therapeutic measures
such as light treatment, inhalation, massage, and
dental treatment, but also for minor ailments and
facilities for obtaining tonsils and adenoids and
orthopaedic treatment. Children attending would be
eligible for milk grants, medicines and convalescent
treatment. Any of these forms of treatment could
of course be provided for school children over five
if desired and arranged for, thus providing a school
clinic in each ward of the Borough.
(c) The establishment of one or more nursery schools
in each ward in addition to such day nurseries as
may be considered necessary. (There is at present
one nursery school in the West Ward and a day nursery
in the South Ward, while a second day nursery
is proposed by the Borough Council in the North
Ward. These might very well be considered in
relation to, although they should not be restricted
to, the Housing Schemes which are now under consideration.)
(d) The medical inspection and treatment of all children
under five to be delegated to the Borough Council,
the County Council paying such contribution in
respect of those attending school as may be reasonable
in the circumstances.
The foregoing plan would be in addition to the home
visiting of the Health Visitors. With this unified effort and
these facilities available, I think we might reasonably hope
to bring practically all young children under systematic
medical supervision and be able to prevent the onset of the
health defects which characterise half the school entrants and
render partly nugatory the work devoted to infancy.