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98
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
Infant Visiting.
During the year the female Sanitary Inspectors have continued
the work begun in 1905 in visiting the homes where births
had occurred, and they have also had during the year, as is stated
in their report, valuable assistance from several voluntary health
visitors.
"We have the honour of submitting to you a leport of our
visits amongst infants during the year 1912.
"We had the help of four voluntary workers, two of these
came regularly for three months each, the other two were only
able to help us very occasionally.
"The total number of visits paid, including the re-visits and
ineffectual visits, was 5,500, the ineffectual visits totalling 1,011,
being highest in Springfield and lowest in Putney.
"The largest number of these ineffectual visits have occurred
on our second visits to the mothers, as so many were found to have
removed and their new home address could not be traced. Whereever
possible we have tried to follow up the mother in her new
home and see that the sanitary conditions were satisfactory.
"As will be seen we were unable to pay as many visits as in
the previous year, there being a decrease of 1,000 in all, i.e., approximately
500 first and 500 second visits fewer than last year. No
second visits were paid after September in Putney, Wandsworth
or Clapham North Wards, and very few in the remaining wards
on account of the large amount of time we had to give to the
visiting of cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
"The total number of visits paid after notification and registration
of births will be found in Table LIT, which also shows
the method of feeding at the time of the first visit, and the number
of ineffectual calls.