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52
Observations on the Past and Future.
There are many matters in the history of maternity and child welfare in Islington
which I have had neither the time nor space to mention. I have, for example, paid
insufficient tribute to the original founders of the Welfare Centres and the doctors
and nurses who had faith and laid the foundation stones in the face of official
indifference and sometimes public indifference which, however, lasted only for a short
time. I should have liked to have mentioned them all by name. I should also have
liked to mention all the voluntary workers at the various Centres who have assisted
for so many years and made the Centre sessions run so very much more smoothly. I
have mentioned in the chronological summary only the main points, but I think it
will be sufficient to indicate that although maternity and child welfare had a slow and
somewhat delayed start, during the past few years the Council have encouraged and
stimulated the growth of the services to an extent which has contributed to obtaining
such a healthy condition of the mothers and children as is indicated by the records
given, and which has taken place in spite of the war, overcrowding and bad housing
conditions.
The improvement in health which has taken place over the years mentioned does
not seem to indicate that there is much that could be fundamentally unsound in
the present services. There is, of course, even now, room for further advances, as
there always must be with a growth in our knowledge of the control of social and
human factors. The Council, however, have no reason to be ashamed of, and much
to be proud of, in the services which, under the National Health Service Act, will now
pass to the London County Council as the Local Health Authority. It now rests
with that Authority to improve still further the health and welfare of the mother and
child and it is obvious from the records that the Borough Council has set a standard
which it will not be easy to maintain and may be difficult to surpass.
All members of the staff, as well as myself insofar as I may be permitted to do so,
will do our best to assist in the smooth transfer of administration, and our utmost to
help the Local Health Authority in the great responsibility which has been placed
upon them, recognising that the administration may have changed but the objective,
namely, the health of mother and child, is still the same.
Finally, I would desire to express my very great thanks to all members of the
staff, both past and present, of the Maternity & Child Welfare Department who
have assisted and enabled me to carry those responsibilities which were given to me
by the Council in 1940. In particular, I would like again to place on record my
appreciation of the great services given both to myself and to the Council by my
former Deputy, Dr. Katherine M. Hirst, and for her enthusiasm in maternity and
child welfare and administrative ability. She has a worthy successor in Dr. Elsie J.
Madeley who will, no doubt, have further opportunities as the service again begins
to expand as it must do one day.
I should also like to place on record the service of Miss D. Egginton, Senior
Maternity & Child Welfare Clerk, who was recommended by me originally to the
Committee as temporary Maternity & Child Welfare Clerk in 1937 and who, by her
rapid rise to the senior administrative position, so far as this Committee is concerned,
has fully justified her original appointment.
I should also like to thank all Centre Superintendents, Health Visitors, the Day
Nursery Superintendent and members of the Day Nursery staffs; all other members
of the clerical staff, and finally, but by no means least, the home and domestic helps
and the Organiser in particular.
I have also had the privilege of being responsible to two Chairmen of the
Maternity & Child Welfare Committee. In the first place to Councillor Mrs. Miriam
Price Coleman and secondly, Councillor Mrs. F. H. Cantwell. I greatly appreciate
that I have been so much more fortunate than my predecessor first mentioned in this
report, in that I have at all times on all major matters, had the full support of the
Chairman and Members of the Committee and have been happy in that major
suggestions and recommendations for improvements in the service have been adopted
by the Committee and the Council to the benefit of the mothers and children of
Islington.