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and well being of future residents in Battersea and Wandsworth have been dealt with.
1955 was the fourth year during which the tripartite arrangement between the Metropolitan
Boroughs of Battersea and Wandsworth and the London County Council has
been operating, and throughout the year it worked entirely satisfactorily.
I made some brief reference last year to the health needs of the large housing estates
which are being built in this area. The broad lines along which the health services in
the new estates should be planned were further considered during 1955. In addition,
detailed consideration was given to the services for the Ranelagh estate, since the
boundary between the County of London and the County of Surrey runs right through
this L.C.C. estate ; provisional arrangements had been arrived at at the end of the year.
Premises
Consequent upon the closure of the Battersea Park day nursery, to which reference
is made below, it was possible to transfer the All Saints' infant welfare centre to the day
nursery premises. This has been much appreciated, I believe, no less by the mothers
and their babies than by the staff working at the centre.
The temporary welfare centre which was opened in 1954 at ' Woodlands', West
Hill, was closed in July and the centre's activities were transferred to the tenants' clubroom
at the Ackroydon estate. A maternity and child welfare centre was opened at the
community centre on the Eastwood estate for one session a week.
The new Tooting school treatment centre at 193 Mitcham Road was formally
opened in January.
Day
nurseries
The Battersea Park day nursery closed in May, which left 549 places in 11 nurseries
of which eight are recognised for training students.
Maternity
and child
welfare
Spccial arrangements have been made for the ante-natal care of expectant mothers
on the Ashburton estate, where one of the Council's midwives holds an ante-natal
clinic in a surgery very kindly placed at our disposal by one of the doctors on the estate.
Toddlers' sessions were commenced at the five following infant welfare centres ;
Balham (weekly); St. Margaret's, Cricklade Avenue (fortnightly) ; Earlsfield, Fairfield
and Riggindale (monthly). An additional monthly session was inaugurated at the
Putney infant welfare centre.
An occasional creche was opened for one session a week at the Fairfield infant welfare
centre in October.
Nurseries and
ChildMinders
Regulation
Act, 1948
At the end of the year there were 11 registered child-minders and nine registered
private day nurseries authorised to care, respectively, for a total of 78 and 226 children,
representing a small net decrease.
Research
I mentioned last year the home-making scheme which had been inaugurated in
the area for mothers of problem families. This experimental scheme ceased in September,
and although its success was limited, it did produce valuable ideas. It has enabled us
in certain ways to reorientate our approach to these difficult problem families.
The research in conjunction with the Medical Research Council into the efficacy
of a combined diphtheria-pertussis prophylactic in the prevention of diphtheria and
whooping cough has continued and during the year the total number of children in
the investigation topped the 5,000 mark. The investigation is now concentrating on
the following-up of these children.
The investigation into the early diagnosis of cerebral palsy under Dr. Dunham
continues.
Special
Investigation
clinics
A total of 1,133 attendances were made at 188 special investigation clinics, a slight
decrease in the attendances compared with the previous year. There were 196 new
cases compared with 235 in 1954.
Recuperative
holidays
Applications for recuperative holidays placed by the division number 837 compared
with 886 in 1954.
Health
education
Again during the year a good deal of attention was given to health education.
One of my senior medical colleagues has interested himself particularly in this important
aspect of our work and talks and lectures on problems of health education have been
given to a number of organisations.
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