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5
Owing to the increasing calls on the Maternity and Child
Welfare Services, due largely to the return of evacuated
mothers and children, it has been necessary to increase the
establishment of Health Visitors from 17 to 19. Miss E. E.
Chesworth, who had acted in a temporary capacity for the
previous six months, was appointed in February and Miss S.
Connor and Miss K. M. Evans in August. One of the latter
appointments was to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation
of Miss J. E. D. Elder, who has left the Council's
service after 16 years' devoted service, to take up an appointment
under another local authority.
There are now 16 Health Visitors in the Council's Maternity
and Child Welfare Service and three in the Tuberculosis
Service.
All the Grade "A" Clerks, seven in number, and one Grade
"D" (female) clerk have joined the Forces. Only four male
members of the permanent staff of clerks, all of whom are above
military age are left in the Department. There are also two
Grade "D" (female) clerks.
Twenty temporary clerks were employed in the Department
at the end of the year.
INFECTIVE DISEASES.
There has been a decrease in the amount of infective
disease during the year, the number of notifiable diseases
(including tuberculosis) having fallen from 4,323 in the previous
year to 3,913. Scarlet fever and measles are mainly responsible
for this decrease. There were 429 cases of measles
reported compared with 2,310 in 1943, and 378 cases of scarlet
fever compared with 853.
241 cases of dysentery have been notified compared with
37 in the previous year; 129 of these ocurred among patients
in Springfield Hospital, and 59 in Tooting Bec Hospital. There
were no deaths.
Three cases of typhoid fever were notified. There was one
death.
There were 13 cases of cerebro-spinal meningitis, with two
deaths, compared with 17 and two in the previous year.
1,011 cases of scabies have been notified.