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The occasional creche was opened for nine sessions a week and was much used by
mothers attending activities at the centre as well as those attending hospital, shopping,
etc.
Medical staff committee meetings have continued to be held regularly and serve a
useful purpose.
Health education work at the centre during the year culminated in December in a
combined display by the Gas Board, Electricity Authority and the Stoke Newington
Borough Council with special publicity on the use of smokeless fuel.
Maternity
and child
welfare
There were 6,442 ante-natal and 219 post-natal attendances and 3,793 first attendances
of infants under one year of age (equal to 87 per cent. of children born during
1957) at the Council's clinics.
Day
nurseries
and childminders
During the year two of the Council's day nurseries (Fernhurst and Brunswick) were
closed and variations in the numbers accommodated at other nurseries resulted in the
total authorised accommodation at the end of 1957 being 439 compared with 553 in the
previous year.
Five private day nurseries provided accommodation for 175 children and six
statutorily registered child-minders cared for 26 children. In addition there were at the
end of the year 39 daily child-minders approved under the arrangements for voluntary
registration.
Health
education
Health education has been continued in accordance with the planned programme
and a committee of officers in the various grades concerned with these activities met in
alternate months to plan and co-ordinate the work and to suggest ways and means for
further development. Educational work in the welfare centres is continuing steadily as
the following figures show :
Sessions Attendances
1953 288 5,421
1954 414 6,494
1955 564 5,775
1956 698 6,402
1957 624 6,629
Recuperative
holidays
Holidays were provided for 872 patients comprising 75 children under school age,
374 school children, 11 expectant and nursing mothers and 412 other adults. The latter
figure includes seven cases in which the holidays were arranged to prevent physical or
mental breakdown.
Home help
service
Help was given by this service up to the limit of available workers. Efforts to obtain
more home helps continued throughout the year and the organisers are all continually
faced with the problem of selecting the applicants in most urgent need of help and
spreading the help as widely as possible. There is constant need for more workers
suitable and willing to attend tuberculous households. During the year help was given
to 4.105 cases.
Problem
families and
help for
children
The divisional co-ordinating committee concerned with the special needs of problem
families has continued to meet at intervals as necessary and considered 14 new cases and
reviewed 60 cases.
A third course was held at Woodberry Down Health Centre in October for the
special training of selected home helps to assist in the rehabilitation of problem families.
The trained home helps are continuing to make a valuable contribution to the work
of holding together families in danger of breaking up.
In October one full-time and one part-time social case worker were appointed for
intensive work with problem families. It is early as yet to assess the full contribution
which these workers will be able to make, but this promises to be an important and
worthwhile development in the service.
Handicapped
children
The physiotherapist from the London Hospital continued to attend daily to tend the
physically handicapped children attending the Geffrye Primary School.
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