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The Rochelle Street centre opened on November 26th and from the start has proved a
popular and busy centre.
To provide a more satisfactory centre the eastern district office of the home help
service was transferred from East India Dock Road welfare centre to the welfare centre
in Wellington Way, Bow, following the reinstatement of the extensively war-damaged
front part of the latter building.
Sessions
Adjustments in the frequency and duration of clinic sessions are made from time to
time, and during the year it was found necessary to institute extra toddlers' sessions at
the Limehouse centre, largely, I feel sure, as a result of the publication in a local church
magazine of a short article on 'the Home and the Family in Relation to Health' by the
health visitor in charge of the centre. Relaxation classes for expectant mothers were
also started at this centre during the year.
To cope with increased attendances the sessions for toddlers at the Mary Hughes
welfare centre were increased in number from two to four a month.
Poliomyelitis
Preparations tor inoculation against poliomyelitis began in the early part of the year,
but because of the limited supply of vaccine the offer of inoculation was restricted to
children of certain age groups selected by the Medical Research Council.
During March some 29,000 letters together with consent forms were sent from the
Divisional Office to the parents of children in the selected age groups, and completed
consent forms were duly received on behalf of over 7,000 children, i.e., approximately
a quarter of those eligible. Because of shortage of vaccine only a fraction of these could
be dealt with, and by the end of the year 811 children had received a completed course
of two injections each, and 166 had received their first injections.
Childminders
The number of voluntarily registered child-minders increased during the year from
92 to 112, and at the end of the year 90 children under the age of 5 years were being
cared for by child-minders during the day. These child-minders are all recommended
by the health visitors who keep them under constant supervision.
Home helps
Early in the year the Health Committee or the Council approved a scheme for the
training and employment of selected home helps to teach housecraft to mothers in
their own homes, where such help seemed to be called for to prevent the possible
break-up of the family. 20 home helps from this Division were selected and received
this training, The specially trained home help is sent to a particular family on the advice
of the health visitor concerned, who then maintains close touch with the divisional
nursing officer, the home help organiser, and, where school children are concerned,
the Care Committee organisation, for regular consultation on the progress made with
the individual mother. Ten families in this division were receiving this service during
the year, and while no spectacular successes were anticipated, encouraging improvement
was noted in five mothers and slight improvement in three others.
Apart from these special activities the home help service had another busy year,
but was still handicapped by the difficulty of recruitment in the Stepney area to which
I referred last year.
B.C.G.
Vaccination of 13-year-old school children with B.C.G. continued during the year,
and with the active support of the head teachers, parental consent was obtained for
about 75 per cent.of the eligible children, and as a result 1,800 children received B.C.G.
vaccination at school.
Home nursing
The calls on the services of the district nurses remained heavy, and throughout the
year the number of visits per nurse was generally higher than in other divisions. In
June it was possible to make available to the East London Nursing Society accommodation
at the Hopetown Street bathing centre for use as a diabetic clinic, the Health
Committee having approved in principle the letting, rent free, of health service premises
for such use to District Nursine Associations.
Health
visitors
During the year the services of health visitors were increasingly in demand for talks
to old people's clubs on 'Accidents in the Home', young wives' groups, and to
schools and parent-teacher associations on 'Safety First'. In conjunction with the
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