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122
being changed once a month. Talks by health visitors to groups of mothers at the
welfare centres were intensified during the year and total attendance figures showed
a big increase.
Division 4, comprising the boroughs of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington.
Dr. S. King reports:—
Maternity
and
child
welfare
Attendances at infant welfare sessions have remained at a satisfactory level and
an additional weekly session was commenced at each of two centres at which attendances
have increased.
Despite a reduction in the number of ante.natal sessions held in the division,
attendances at some ante.natal clinics fall somewhat short of a staisfactory level
The division is very well supplied with maternity hospital accommodation and the
mothers who book for hospital confinement almost invariably receive ante.natal
supervision at the hospital of their choise.
Midwives' ante.natal sessions are held concurrently with the clinic sessions.
Despite the continuing shortage of health visitors the high level of visiting of
premature infants (an average of 4.8 visits to each premature infant born) has been
maintained.
Attendances at the special toddlers sessions, 7 of which are now held each week
have remained at a satisfactory level. The total attendances during the year numbered
3,966, approximately 25.5 per cent. of the children examined being found to
require some form of treatment.
The breast feeding clinic at the Kingsland Road welfare centre, at which mothers
attend twice or thrice daily for test feeds and receive advice on feeding difficulties,
continues to serve a very useful purpose. Attendances during the year totalled 490.
A family planning clinic continues to be held in each of the three boroughs in
the division, two being administered by the Family Planning Association and the
third by the Council.
Day
nurseries
and child.
minders
A marriage advisory clinic is also held weekly.
In pursuance of the Health Committee's policy to make most effective use of
the available day nursery accommodation and to secure economy in the maintenance
costs, a review of the position was made early in the year and resulted in the closing
of one nursery and a re.allocation of the age.groupings of children in other nurseries
to meet the present changed needs. The effect was to reduce the total child.places
from 709 to 668. Three day nurseries ceased to be used as training nurseries, the
establishment of nursery students being reduced from 93 to 40. The priority waiting
list for nursery admission contained the names of 163 children at the end of the year
compared with 196 at the end of the previous year.
Five private day nurseries, registered under the Nurseries and Child.Minders
Regulation Act, 1948, provide accommodation for 177 children and there are 3
statutorily registered child.minders approved for the care of 12 children.
In addition, there were at the end of the year 64 approved daily minders having
in their care 66 children under school age. The supply of suitable women available
to receive young children for daily minding continues to exceed the demand for this
service.
Vaccination
and
immunisation
Joint vaccination and immunisation clinics have continued to be held in the
larger maternity and child welfare centres in the division and the sustained efforts
to secure the vaccination and immunisation of infants at the appropriate ages have
continued to achieve a fairly successful result. The systematic "combing" of
schools for children who have not been immunised against diphtheria or are in need
of re.inforcing injections has continued throughout the year. It is pleasing to record
that only one case of diphtheria (in an unimmunised child) occurred in the division
during the year.