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PERSONAL HEALTH SERVICES
The 0Personal Health Services are those services provided by the
Council, as the local health authority, under the various sections
of the National Health Service Act which are directed to safeguarding
the health of the individual and, should any ill-health
supervene in spite of our efforts, to ameliorating the consequences
of ill-health, both in the individual and the family of which he is a
member. The importance of care during pregnancy and the early
years of life is vital to the healthy and full development of the
child and the individual, and a large part of this service is concentrated
on expectant and nursing mothers and young children.
Although this service is now proportionately less important than it
was in days gone by and it may be said that the family and
the family group, comprising all ages, is now more the unit of
health than any one individual or age group in the family, it is
convenient to divide, for descriptive purposes, the parts of the
services into those services directed to improving the health and
well-being of mothers and young children and those other health
services directed not exclusively to mothers and young children.
To some extent, these two categories overlap and many services
described under "other personal health services" are available to
mothers of young children.
SERVICES FOR MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
The main features of the Council's services for the care of
mothers and young children are described in the following sections.
The aim is to safeguard the health of the expectant mother
because on her health depends, in large measure, the well-being of
her baby, and when the baby is born, to safeguard and supervise
the health of her child during infancy and early childhood. Particular
attention is now being paid to the diagnosis of abnormalities
in the early months and years of life and the description of the
work under the heading "Handicap and Observation Register"
now forms a very important part of this section of the department.
Maternity and Child Welfare Centres
There were 17 welfare centres in the Borough at the end of 1965,
one new one (Stormont Road, Battersea) being opened during
the year.
A wide range of health service facilities is available to help
expectant mothers and nursing mothers with young children and
the services available include ante-natal and post-natal clinics,
child-welfare, mothercraft and relaxation classes and special
toddlers' clinics. Protective inoculation against many infectious
diseases is offered and there is a dental service for expectant and
nursing mothers and children.