London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Islington 1927
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
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85
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Work of Health Visitors.
Seven whole-time Health Visitors are engaged in Maternity
and Child Welfare work, each being allotted a particular portion
of the Borough. Infants are visited by them as soon as
information of a birth is received, and at intervals, three or four
times during the first year of life. Further visits are made
subsequently, but at longer intervals, until the child reaches the
age of five years. The duties of the Health Visitors also comprise
visits to expectant mothers, to cases of Puerperal Fever, and
Ophthalmia, to applicants under the Milk Assistance Scheme,
and enquiries into infant deaths. Each Health Visitor attends
the Voluntary Infant Welfare Centre which is held in her district,
and also takes her turn in attending the Council's Infant Welfare
Clinic.
The work of these officers is summarised in the following table:—
| Primary Visits to Infants under 1 year | 2,771 |
| Subsequent „ „ „ | 10,017 |
| Children between 1 and 5 years of age | 6,600 |
| Still Births | 30 |
| Infant Deaths | 60 |
| Ante-Natal Cases—Primary Visits | 237 |
| „ ,, Subsequent Visits | 141 |
| Applications for Milk | 1,393 |
| Puerperal Fever and Pyrexia Cases | 10 |
| Ophthalmia Neonatorum Cases | 9 |
| Other Infectious Cases | 193 |
| Miscellaneous Visits | 312 |
Municipal Maternity Home.
Medical Officer Dr. J. W. Mii.i.er.
Matron Mrs. D. Fynn.
The Maternity Home is situated at 41, Rushey Green,
Catford, and has seventeen beds, permitting an average admission
of 26 patients per month.