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129
Such applicants are visited in their own homes by a Medical
Officer and Nursing Officer in order that the suitability of the
minder and the premises may be assessed before any recommendation
for registration is made to the Council.
At the end of 1968 the following child-minders and premises
were registered for these purposes:—
National Health Service Act, 1946
No. of Child-Minders Registered 81
No. of Places or Children Minded 118
Nurseries and Child-Minders Regulation Act, 1948
No. of Premises Registered:
Factories — Places —
Other 13 Places 301
No. of Child-Minders Registered: 35 Places 198
Compared with 1967, when there were 446 places for children
requiring day care (excluding those in the Lewisham Day Nursery)
617 places were available at December 31st, 1968.
Health Services and Public Health Act, 1968
Section 60 of this Act amends the Nurseries and Child-Minders
Regulation Act, 1948, and 1st February, 1969, is the date laid
down by the Minister by which all child-minders and premises
must be registered in accordance with more stringent regulations.
In the meantime, the new legislation has caused a considerable
volume of work in the Department for all applicants for registration
are visited by a Health Visitor and a Public Health
Inspector.
Stringent conditions laid down in the Act involve such matters
as general sanitary arrangements (including safe methods of heating
the premises), means of escape in case of fire, suitability of
accommodation, etc. All reports are eventually scrutinised by
senior medical and nursing staff before an appropriate recommendation
is made to the Health Committee.
With few exceptions, child-minders and day nurseries known
to the Department have provided a satisfactory service to the
mothers and children of Greenwich but the stricter regulations
now introduced will undoubtedly enable local authorities to
prevent children falling into the care of unsuitable persons in
unfavourable premises. It is highly desirable that children under
the age of five years, who are particularly vulnerable to a poor
environment, should receive the optimum physical, mental and
emotional care that can be provided.