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48
PART 4
PERSONAL HEALTH SERVICES
The Personal Health Services are those services provided by
the Council, as the local health authority, under the sections of
the National Health Service Acts directed to safeguarding the
health of the individual and if, in spite of our efforts, any ill-health
supervenes, of ameliorating its consequences in both the individual
and the family of which he is a member. Proper 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 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, it is convenient to divide
descriptively the parts of the services into those 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 and 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 to safeguard and supervise the health of the baby
during infancy and early childhood. Particular attention is paid
to the diagnosis of abnormalities in the early months and years of
life and the work connected with maintaining the Handicap and
Observation Register, described later in this report, now forms
a very important section of the work of the department.
Maternity and Child Welfare Centres
The large attendance at all our centres indicates that these
centres fulfil a social need which is probably as valuable as the
need for medical or ancillary advice. Families are now frequently
isolated from relatives and the friendly informal atmosphere of
the child welfare centre is obviously fulfilling a deep felt need for
social support.
In most centres there are classes and discussion groups on many
topics of interest to parents and some of them take the form of
mothers clubs. Three centres offer an occasional evening to fathers
and these are well attended. There are also creches where children
may play while the mother attends these classes.