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Arrangements for in-patient and out-patient treatment could easily be
arranged at the voluntary hospitals provided that a proper scheme were
devised upon some financial basis so that toddlers could be sent at fixed
times and days for treatment with a minimum of delay at the hospital.
Moreover, such a scheme should work well, as the various departments of a
voluntary hospital are each under the medical control of a specialist, and
cases are readily referred if necessary directly from one to another.
(vi) Dental Treatment.
There are six part-time dentists who held 301 sessions during the year,
at which there were 387 attendances of toddlers. The scheme for dental
treatment is capable of considerable expansion.
(vii) Convalescent Homes.
There is no definire arrangement made by the Council in this connexion,
but each welfare centre is in touch with various voluntary agencies like
the Invalid Children's Aid Association, whereby many toddlers requiring
a holiday at a convalescent home are sent away. It will be recalled that
the Council agreed to maintain one bed at the Zachary Merton Convalescent
Home (Rustington) when it had been erected (Minutes, 1933-4, page 604).
It is anticipated that the home will be opened early next year for the
reception of patients, and a letter has been received asking if the intention
of the Council still holds good.
(viii) Day Nurseries.
There is one voluntary day nursery in the Oval Ward (the Cynthia
Mosley Day Nursery) with accommodation for 50, of which rather more than
30 are toddlers. One other under private management in Norwood
accommodates 20, but until recently it was not particularly successful,
and has never been incorporated in the Lambeth Welfare Scheme.
(ix) Nursery Classes.
There is one nursery school in Norwood under the Education Authority,
and it is hoped that a nursery class will be arranged for the toddlers at
the Cyuthia Mosley Day Nursery under the auspices of the Board of
Education.
(x) Supply of Extra Nourishment.
The Lambeth milk assistance scheme based on the scale of income
recommended as necessitous by the Ministry of Health on 22nd August,
1922, has been in existence since the beginning of 1919, and through it
nearly 700,000 gallons of milk have been distributed at a cost of
approximately £60,000. In 1935, 31,360 gallons were distributed at a cost
of £2,764.
It will be recalled that the Lambeth Municipal Milk Depot was opened
early in 1906, long before the welfare activities in the Borough were
co-ordinated under the Maternity and Child Welfare Act, 1918. The
provision of a safe supply of milk to the young children of inhabitants
in the inner wards had a considerable influence upon infantile mortality
many years before the first welfare centre was inaugurated.
The Council has insisted that all wet milk supplied shall be pasteurised
and sold under that special designation. Various forms of dried milk ate
also issued for those cases where the Medical Officer directs.
Cod liver oil, virol, and other similar preparations are sold at cost price
at all welfare centres, but it will be remembered that the free issue