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A total of six home helps employed in the division received special training at the
two courses, each of a week's duration, held at Woodberry Down health centre
during March and October. The courses were designed to train selected home helps to
assist in the rehabilitation of problem families. These home helps have since been
employed in this work, receiving an enhanced rate of pay, and early indications are
that they will make a valuable contribution to the work of holding together families
in danger of breaking-up. There has been continued close contact between the area
children's office and the divisional health office to prevent the need for taking
children into care. Full use has again been made of day nurseries, home helps and childminders,
and in one case a child help.
Handicapped
children
Physiotherapists from the London Hospital now attend daily to tend the physically
handicapped children attending the Geffrye Primary School.
Chiropody
77 chiropody sessions are held in the Division each week and a satisfactory level
of attendances is maintained but the available resources are insufficient to meet to the
full the existing demand for treatment. Priority is given to children and elderly people.
During the year Stoke Newington Old People's Welfare Committee started a chiropody
session for elderly persons at the Woodberry Down health centre on Saturday mornings.
Prophylaxis
During the year 2,433 children were vaccinated against smallpox, 4,245 completed
a primary course of immunisation against diphtheria and 6,461 received reinforcing
injections, and 3,209 were immunised against whooping-cough. Under the scheme for
immunistion against poliomyehtis 1,022 children received the full course of two injections
and 106 the first injection only during the two months when vaccine was available.
During 1956 all 13-year-old schoolchildren in the division were offered B.C.G.
vaccination, 67.5 per cent. of the children were tested and of these 84.6 per cent. were
negative reactors and were given an injection of B.C.G. vaccine. The positive reactors
to the skin test (328) were given appointments for chest X-ray and all but 17 attended.
Diversional
therapy for
the
tuberculous
Three children were found to require further investigation.
Diversional therapy for home-bound tuberculous persons first became available in
November, 1955, when two whole-time therapists took up their appointments. They
devote 15 half-day sessions a week to patients in Division 4 and spend the balance of
their time in an adjoining division. Early indications that this was a welcome and
useful addition to the tuberculosis service have been confirmed.
Home nursing
and loan
equipment
The three District Nursing Associations continue to give a high standard ol service
to sick persons nursed at home. A steady demand for loan of items of home nursing
equipment continues to be met. The Shoreditch and Bethnal Green District Nursing
Association is now housed at the Kingsland Road welfare centre and this results in closer
contact between the district nurses and the health visitors working in Shoreditch.
Division 5, comprising the boroughs of Bethnal Green, Poplar, Stepney and the City of
London.
Dr. G. O. Mitchell reports:
Premises
The maternity and child welfare Services in the Borough of Bethnal Green had been
working at a disadvantage since the formation of this division in 1948, because there
was only one centre there for these services. The need for another centre in the western
part of the Borough was obvious, and after a fruitless search for suitable premises the
Education Committee agreed to release part of Rochelle Street School for adaptation,
it having been at length decided that this building, which is separate from the main
school, would no longer be required for use as a central dental laboratory. The building,
part of which has been in use since 1944 as a school treatment centre, has now been
adapted to provide additional accommodation for a maternity and child welfare centre
and for the home help office for the northern part of the division. This latter office
had remained temporarily at Cornwall Avenue after the maternity and child welfare
centre, formerly housed there, had removed to the new Greenwood centre in 1955.
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