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Similarly, under the direction of the specialist in physical medicine at the same hospital,
a physiotherapist treats health service patients in addition to mothers and children
for the local health authority. A psychiatric social worker uses the premises for interviewing
persons in need of assistance under the Council's after-care scheme. An antenatal
clinic is held for expectant mothers expecting to be confined in a local hospital
as well as for mothers who will be attended by one of the Council's domiciliary midwives.
The Family Planning Association hold a clinic on the premises. Speech therapy
sessions, which started in 1954, have now developed so that six sessions are held in each
week and in the autumn of 1956 sessions commenced for the auditory training of very
young deaf children.
Care of mothers and young children
In 1948 many clinics were housed in premises held on short tenancies or in requisitioned
buildings, often in church halls or shops. There has been a gradual improvement in
centre and day nursery accommodation (page 48) and a building up of health visiting
services. Woodberry Down comprehensive health centre was completed in 1952,
six new maternity and child welfare centres have been built and a further 12 opened
in premises which were converted for the purpose. Some 20 voluntary organisations
which had run maternity and child welfare centres with financial help from the
metropolitan borough councils continued their work with financial assistance from the
Council. The divisional medical officers and the Council's representatives who have
been members of the voluntary committees managing these centres have integrated
the work of these voluntary organisations with the other personal health services.
Some voluntary hospitals also provided maternity and child welfare services by arrangement
with metropolitan borough councils and as the hospital authorities no longer
had powers to provide these services this work was taken over by the Council from
the regional hospital boards. Teaching hospitals, however, were able to arrange for
committees of medical schools to act as voluntary bodies for this purpose and in this
way four hospitals have continued to provide a service, grant-aided by the Council.
Altogether there are now well over 150 maternity and child welfare centres in the
County.
Despite the continued shortage of health visitors, the introduction of selective
visiting and the recruitment of clinic nurses, who have taken over some of the clinical
duties, have enabled the percentage of first visits to babies born in the County to be
maintained at around 96 per cent. during the last 10 years. 88 per cent. of all babies
attend child welfare clinics in the first year of life. Breast feeding sessions have been
merged almost entirely into normal child welfare clinic sessions—ultra-violet light and
massage sessions have been reduced by more than half while mothercraft training sessions
have been doubled. A steady flow of new health education material for use in the centres
—posters, pamphlets, film strips and films—has been maintained by a committee of
officers meeting regularly at County Hall. The interest of health visitors in the use of
these materials has been stimulated by an annual competition of original work in the
field of health education and mothercraft open to the whole of the Council's staff for
which prizes are awarded for the best entries. All of the entries submitted are subsequently
exhibited so that the staff have an opportunity of seeing them.
Day nurseries—The demand for day nursery places has declined. In 1949 there were
6,549 places which by 1958 had been reduced to 4,321 by the closure of a number of
nurseries. Admission to day nurseries has been made according to the following scheme
of priorities:
1. The first priority for admission is given equally, subject to the other rules, to
the children (including adopted children) of:
(a) mothers who are widows, separated or divorced wives, or wives whose
husbands are totally disabled or in prison, or unmarried mothers, provided they are
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