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Clinical meetings have been held from time-to-time and general practitioners in Stoke
Newington and the Council's medical officers employed in the division have been
invited to these meetings.
The general dental service continues at 11 sessions each week, but, notwithstanding
representations which have been made, the second surgery provided for this service
still awaits the appointment of a dental surgeon.
Three successful blood donor sessions were held during the year and the local club
for diabetic patients has continued to meet at the centre.
Visitors to the centre numbered 1,930 of whom 386 came from overseas. Once
again a large proportion of the visitors (1,475) were either post-graduate or student
doctors, nurses, health visitors, midwives, social workers or others concerned with the
health services.
There were 8,165 ante-natal and 372 post-natal attendances and 3,444 first attendances
of infants under one year of age (equal to 85 per cent, of children born during 1955)
at the Council's clinics.
Maternity
and childwelfare
A start has been made in the introduction of preventive mental health work into
the maternity and child welfare service by holding a weekly meeting of the medical
director and staff of the child guidance unit and a medical officer and a health visitor.
At these meetings cases are discussed and guidance given to the health visitor in her
further work for the families.
Preventive
nental health
Kingsmead day nursery was closed at the end of the year, thus reducing the number
of day nursery places from 603 to 553.
Day
nurseries
and childminders
Five private day nurseries provide accommodation for 175 children and 3 statutorily
registered child-minders care for 14 children. In addition, there were at the end of the
year 65 daily minders approved under the arrangements for voluntary registration.
Health
education
Health education has been extended in accordance with a planned programme and
a committee of officers in the various grades concerned with these activities has been
established to plan and co-ordinate the work and to suggest ways and means for further
development.

Hobdays were provided for 915 patients, comprising 83 children under school age,
393 schoolchildren, 13 nursing mothers and 426 other adults.
Recuperative
holidays
Help was given by this service up to the limit of the available workers. Efforts
to obtain more home helps continued throughout the year and the organisers are
continuously faced with the problem of selecting the applicants in most urgent need
of help and spreading the help as widely as possible. There is a constant need for more
workers suitable and willing to attend tuberculous households.
Home help
service

The divisional committee of statutory and voluntary workers concerned with the Problem
special needs of problem families has continued to meet, usually monthly, and con- and
sidered 23 cases during 1955. The number of such families known as the result of a children
special canvass is 219 and all are visited and reported upon by the health visitors or other
appropriate workers as frequently as circumstances indicate.
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