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Royal Free Hospital Welfare Centre.
This Centre receives a grant from the London County Council. Welfare work in regard
to babies born under arrangeiuenls for which the hospital is responsible is carried on by means of
a welfare centre and by home visiting undertaken by three Health Visitors. Particulars of the
work of this centre are given in Table III on page 105.
Supply of Miik to Mothers and Children.
The Borough Council during the year continued to make grants of milk, either free or
at reduced price. As a rule, in the case of expectant mothers, the grants were restricted to
the last three months of pregnancy, and in the case of children to those who were under three
years of age.
Where a family is in receipt of relief, the application is made by the Medical Officer
of the Welfare or Ante-natal Centre directly to the Public Assistance Committee on the
forms provided. Where the family is not in receipt of relief, the application is considered
by the Special (Milk) Sub-Committee of the Borough Council. Grants are made, either
free or at half price, in accordance with an approved scale of income. Information is
exchanged between the authorities concerned, in order to avoid overlapping.
The following procedure has been agreed upon between the Borough Council and the
London County Council regarding the provision of extra nourishment to expectant mothers
attending the ante-natal clinics at the London County Council Hospitals :—
(a) In receipt of relief.— Women in receipt of relief who attend the County Council's
ante natal clinics for examination and advice prior to confinement in the County Council's
Hospitals should normally come under the sole supervision of the County Council during
the ante-natal period, and, except in any particular case in which special arrangements
have been made with the local maternity and child welfare centre, should not be required
to attend the Borough Council's welfare centres for the purpose of obtaining extra nourishment,
as such attendance would involve divided clinical responsibility. It is accordingly
proposed that in these cases any extra nourishment required during the ante-natal period
shall be supplied as relief in kind from the County Council's clinic. After confinement the
nursing mothers will be referred to the Borough Council's welfare centres, with a view to
any extra nourishment required being supplied through such centres. Recommendations
from the welfare centres in respect of the supply of extra nourishment to nursing mothers
(whether or not the mother has previously attended one of the County Council's clinics)
will be dealt with in the same way as similar recommendations in respect of expectant
mothers.
{b) Not in receipt of relief.— Expectant mothers attending ante-natal clinics attached
to the London County Council's general hospitals, who are not in receipt of relief, but are
nevertheless in such financial circumstances as to be unable to bear the cost of such
nourishment, are supplied with extra nourishment on the certificates of the County Council's
medical officers, provided that these cases come within the category of the Borough
Council's scheme.
At the end of 1935 there were 211 families actually in receipt of milk under the
Borough Council's scheme. During 1936, 330 new families were added to the list of
recipients. By the end of that year there were 187 families receiving grants. The total
cost of this scheme in 1934, was £992 ; in 1935, £1,067; and in 1936, ill,028.