View report page

PERSONAL HEALTH SERVICES
Care of Mothers and Young Children
Maternity and Child Welfare Centres
1966 was a year of growth in the work undertaken at welfare centres, at which
advice may be obtained by local families on a variety of health and allied problems.
Attendances at the normal range of ante-natal and child welfare sessions continued to
be maintained at a reasonably high level, and a statistical summary of these
attendances is shown in the table hereunder. An evening child welfare session for
working mothers at the Barnsbury Welfare Centre was still popular. On the same evening,
a class was held by arrangement with the Inner London Education Authority to teach
English to mothers and their friends from overseas. This commenced in May 1966 and
although its success was not spectacular, it made real progress and proved most worthwhile,
and is being continued. Additional sessions undertaken during the year are
referred to in detail elsewhere in this report and include cytology, family planning,
chiropody and geriatric clinics.
Arrangements were also made for two of the team of home visitors to the elderly
to be based at the two centres at which geriatric clinics are held, and plans were
being discussed for the ultimate decentralisation to welfare centres of all the home
visitors now based centrally. (See page 22 for details about this pilot scheme).
At the beginning of April the Council took over the direct administration of
child welfare activities undertaken at the Blythe Mansions Welfare Centre, Highcroft
Road, N.19, formerly administered by the North Islington Voluntary Welfare Centre.
Adaptations were approved to convert this hall at a community centre into premises
which could be used for a full scale welfare centre, and work began on these in
December 1966.
A weekly occasional creche session was held at each of three centres, mainly for
the children of women attending clinic activities, and proposals were under discussion
for extending this service to three other centres.
Summary of maternity and child welfare attendances
Child Welfare -
Total attendances 65,636
Toddlers -
Total attendances 5,884
Ante-natal & Post-natal -
Total attendances 9,294 (not including G.P.O.
sessions)
Grand total 80,814
No. of Occasional creche sessions per week 3
Total attendances during 1966 794
Day Care of Children
Day Nurseries
There was a continued heavy demand by parents for the admission of their children
to the Council's five day nurseries which provided a total of 299 places for children
under five. Appendix A indicates the scheme of priorities for admissions. It was
rarely possible to offer places for children who are not in the first priority category.
Thus the very large number of parents who applied for places solely in order that the
mother might work to augment the family income were invariably disappointed.
Increasing use was made of nursery places for children handicapped by a physical or
mental disability who would benefit from nursery care or who required this service
because of adverse home conditions. The unsatisfied demand for nursery places in
61