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17
Artificial sunlight treatment has been adopted during the past
year or two in connection with the working of many Tuberculosis
and Maternity and Child Welfare schemes. Last year the Red
Cross Clinic, Dalston Lane, Hackney, E. 8, made arrangements for
offering the benefits of X-Ray and artificial sunlight treatment,
and it is probable that in the near future this treatment will be
available also to Stoke Newington children at the Metropolitan
Hospital. It is certain that the treatment, if appropriately applied,
is often beneficial, at least for a time ; but it is not unlikely that the
high claims made as to its value will prove to have been somewhat
exaggerated as our experience extends.
Recognising the need for the adoption of measures whereby
every child under five years of age, and every expectant or
nursing mother requiring after-care upon discharge from Hospital,
shall always obtain this, I have recently taken certain action in this
matter.
The Maternity and Child Welfare schemes of some County
Councils, County Borough Councils and other Public Health
Authorities in the Provinces are generally assisted by information
from the local Hospitals as to the after-care requirements of nursing
or expectant mothers and children under five who have either been
in Hospital or are attending as out-patients. Within the Metropolitan
area, however, where the large majority of the Hospitals
attended are entirely independent institutions administering to the
needs of many sanitary areas, there is little of such co-operation;
and so it is found that in many cases no warning or advice is given to
parents, and when instructions are given, ignorance and neglect
not infrequently lead to the advice being improperly followed or
entirely ignored. Therefore, it is suggested that a written notification
should be sent from the Hospital to the Medical Officers of
Maternity and Child Welfare, if any such patients require after-care
when discharged from Hospital, or special services while attending