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39
DAY CARE OF CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS
Day Nurseries
There are eight day nurseries in the City, with a total of 450 places. These continue to be
very fully used and there are long waiting lists, especially in the north of the City.
Three special units for handicapped children, providing a total of 24 places, have been started
in day nurseries, and extra staff have been trained for this work.
In selecting children for admission to the day nurseries, priority is given to children with mental,
physical or social handicaps, and to those who would otherwise have to be received into care
owing to the mother's illness or absence.
The staffing of the day nurseries continues to present serious difficulties. Five of the nurseries
are approved by the Ministry of Health for the training of nursery nurses, but owing to the many
less arduous and better paid opportunities available to them, few remain in the Council's service
after the end of their training period.
Nurseries and Child Minders
There are 25 private day nurseries in Westminster providing 689 places. These are regularly
visited and supervised by the City Council's medical officers.
Sixteen women are registered under the Nurseries and Child Minders Regulation Act, 1948,
to mind a total of 86 children. Health visitors visit frequently to advise and help. They are
especially concerned in encouraging stimulating play and outdoor activity.
Fifty women each minding no more than two children are voluntarily registered with the City
Council, and supervised by health visitors.
Sponsored Child Minder Service
The City Council has continued to use the services of a sponsored child minder who started
taking children under this scheme in 1966. She takes 10 children who are on the waiting
list for day nursery admission and they receive care similar to that in the day nursery. A regular
subsidy is paid by the City Council for this service, and parents are assessed to pay according to
their means.
The high standard demanded is met by this child minder, and the Medical Officer of Health
would extend the scheme if suitable people would come forward.
Play Groups
Medical officers and health visitors supervise the play groups, of which there are 13 in Westminster,
with provision for 312 children aged between two and a half and five years. Play groups
and creches are also run in some of the City Council's child welfare clinics.
Despite the schemes outlined above, the provision of accommodation for children under five
falls far short of demand. There are many families where the home environment is detrimental to
the child's health and development, and every effort is made to secure a day nursery place. Also,
for a variety of reasons, many mothers of young children need to go out to work, and the day
nursery and registered daily minder accommodation is totally inadequate to meet the needs. The
mothers have to find someone to take in their children for the long hours often demanded by their
work. Because of this, many women are minding children illegally in unsuitable accommodation,
despite the vigilant efforts of the health visitors. The Medical Officer of Health is greatly concerned
about this situation, and incessant efforts are made to overcome the problem.
VACCINATION AND IMMUNISATION
Vaccination and immunisation is provided for all children under school leaving age either at
the Child Welfare Clinics, in schools or by family doctors.
Parents are given every encouragement to have their children immunised and health visitors
make unceasing efforts to ensure that courses are commenced and completed. In spite of this,
figures remain disappointing although returns from the Ministry of Health indicate a slight improvement
in the immunisation state of children born in 1966. Owing to frequent changes of address
it is probable that many children are lost, and although they may be fully immunised, they are not
included in the figures given below. Similarly, many children immunised by general practitioners
are not included as the necessary records have not been forwarded to the City Council.