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47
to certain increases in charges proposed by the Family Planning Association
for cases referred by the Council on medical grounds. The Association was also
given authority to provide domiciliary consultations for women specially referred
by the Council as in need of this service.
CRECHES
Creches at which mothers may leave their children for the duration of the
session (Normally 3 hours) are held in many health centres.
There is a continually increasing demand for this service which provides
facilities for children under school age to have opportunities for group play
and relieves hard pressed mothers for short periods. A number of new sessions
were commenced during the year. During the period under review 1,532 sessions
were held at which 19,514 attendances were made.
DAY NURSERIES
During 1968 the ten day nurseries continued to provide a happy
environment for 596 Lambeth children.
As the demand for places for those with special needs remained high, it
was decided to extend part-time facilities to other nurseries. This started last
year at St. Martin's Nursery as an experiment and proved to be successful and
invaluable for those children for whom a whole day away from mother and home
could be upsetting.
There are now ten part-time groups in the borough, giving an extra 60 places.
Many emergency places had to be found during the year to prevent children
being received into care. Deserted fathers and those temporarily on their own
when the wife was in hospital were able to be helped. All the nurseries accepted
a proportion of handicapped children, and approximately 60 attended daily giving
help not only to the child but also some welcome relief to mother. Tulse Hill
Special Unit continued to make provision for nine children with more severe
disabilities.
Staffing the nurseries continued to be difficult, and as student nursery
nurses normally complete their training by the age of 18 years it is inevitable that
the majority, after some experience, will be attracted by other posts.
There is an establishment of 60 students in the 7 training nurseries taking
the 2 year Nursery Nurses Examination Board course and examination. There
were 90 applicants for the 30 available places. Advantage was taken of the
training facilities at Croydon Technical College as well as Brixton and Southwark