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For the first time in London a scheme was introduced for inoculating with B.C.G.
all children in secondary schools in the division in the year preceding their 14th birthday.
The arrangements for the testing and inoculation of the children ran very smoothly
thanks to the co-operation of the teachers and parents. Consents for the test were given
for about 75 per cent, of the children and of those approximately 84 per cent, were found
to give a negative reaction to the test and were given an iniection of B.C.G. vaccine.
B.C.G.
vaccination
against
tuberculosis
The adaptation of Hurlingham Lodge hostel for tuberculous men to allow full
occupation was completed and the number of beds was increased from 12 to 28, including
two in garden chalets. The hostel is in a charming setting with a large garden overlooking
Hurlingham sports grounds and provides excellent living accommodation for men with
chronic active pulmonary tuberculosis. It continued to attract a large number of doctors,
students and other visitors from this country and overseas.
Hurlingham
Lodge Hostel
1 for
; tuberculous
men
I he root clinics continued to provide a very valuable and popular service. I he arrangements
for staffing the one at the Raymede centre, North Kensington, by chiropodists
and students from the Chelsea School of Chiropody had to be discontinued owing to
shortage of students, and two whole-time chiropodists were appointed by the Council.
Foot clinics
The expansion of the home help service continued and, despite the difficulties of
recruiting sufficient staff, all essential demands were met.
Two families were provided with child helps during the year. In both cases a suitable
home help was willing to live with the fatherless family for a short period while the
mother was in hospital.
Home help
service
Child helps
Six persons were supplied with night help for two nights a week for periods of one
to six weeks to give some relief to relatives during the illness of old people.
The number of home nursing visits continued to increase and there is no doubt that
the magnificent work of the district nurses enabled many patients to be nursed at home
instead of in hosoital.
Night
attendance on
the chronic
sick
Home nursing
Much time and thought have been given to means of ensuring the closest co-operation
between various field workers in this and other departments of the Council and other
authorities and voluntary agencies in measures for preventing the ill-treatment and neglect
of children and juvenile delinquency. I should like to pay a tribute to the tact, zeal and
good judgment of the health visitors in dealing with these very difficult cases. In the
report for 1952 reference was made to the general conference which was attended by
representatives of various departments of the Council concerned with these questions
together with representatives of borough housing departments, the police, the probation
service, the hospitals, family doctors and some 25 voluntary organisations. This
conference has met each year and in 1954 discussed problems connected with housing.
The Standing Committee, consisting of principal officers of the Council in the division
(with power to co-opt members of other social agencies as necessary) which was then
set up has met from time to time and has proved a useful supplement to the close and
all-important collaboration which already existed among the numerous workers in the
field. Meanwhile, efforts are being made by all concerned to utilize the available services
to the full in order to avoid the breaking up of families which so often provides the
background of the delinquent child.
Ill-treatment
and neglect of
children and
juvenile
delinquency
Attention was also directed to the question whether juvenile maladjustment and
delinquency could not be controlled if greater attention were given to the mental and
emotional health of the child at the Council's welfare centres and school inspections.
At the request of the Divisional Health Committee I prepared a report on the subject
which shows that the doctors are aware of the problem and are dealing with it constructively
but that the problem is not only a medical one. It is in many cases associated
with family difficulties, the solution of which lies in the endeavours of all people in touch
with the family to bring the whole family as a unit back into community life. As the
physical health of children improves, the question of mental health comes more into
prominence and it is hoped that there will be increasing opportunities for developing this
aspect of the welfare centre doctors' and health visitors' work in the future.
127
j
Mental
health in the
child