View report page

Maternity and Child, Welfare. 47
The number of visits made by nurses in 1923 was 1,862, and
the large increase in 1924 is due entirely to the increase in the
number of cases of Pneumonia, as 2,974 visits were made to these
cases, compared with 416 in 1923.
Maternity and Child Welfare Centres.
The nine Infant Welfare Centres established in previous
years have continued to do excellent work throughout the year,
and a new Branch Centre has been opened in Tooting.
Each Centre has a Medical Officer, who attends at each
Infant or Ante-natal Clinic, together with a trained Superintendent
who visits the homes of children and expectant mothers
in addition to her duties at the clinics. The voluntary workers
at all the Centres continue to render valuable assistance at the
sessions and carry out all the work connected with the keeping
of records, and the purchase and sale of food, drugs and clothing.
They do no visiting.
The new Branch Centre for Tooting is held at the Church
Hall, Lynwood Road, off Upper Tooting Road, and is situated
in a thickly populated district which was not served adequately
by the main Centre at Fairlight Hall. It was started to meet
the needs of the mothers living in this district who found it
difficult, on account of the distance, to attend Fairlight Hall
with two or more children. This Branch Centre is open one
morning a week, an infant session alternating with one for antenatal
cases. The first ante-natal session was held on the 9th
October and the first infant clinic on the 16th October. Eleven
sessions were held during the year and the average number of
expectant mothers who attended each ante-natal session was
10, while an average of 40 infants attended each infant clinic.
The following is a list of the Welfare Centres in the Borough,
together with the hours at which the clinics are held:—