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11
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Three hundred and seventy notifications of births, including 20 still births, made in
accordance with the requirements of the Notification of Births Act, were received. Of these,
67 only referred to City births, and the balance were transferred to the appropriate authorities.
Sixty-seven initial visits were made as a consequence of these notifications, and 1,138
subsequent visits in connection with infant welfare and ante-natal work, in addition to 11
special nursing visits.
One visit was made in connection with a case which came within the scope of the
Children Act, 1908, and one in respect of a nurse child.
Supplies of milk and dried milk, at cost price or free, according to circumstances, have
been provided, according to the practice which has been in operation for some years. Cod
Liver Oil is also given if its administration appears to be desirable.
In no case was home help necessary during 1933.
There were no notifications of verminous school children under the London County
Council (General Powers) Act, 1904.
One visit was made in connection with infant life protection and two in connection
with cases of Ophthalmia.
The lying-in accommodation provided by the City Corporation at St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1929, was utilized
by two mothers during 1933.
Dr. Charles F. Harris, who is in charge of the Corporation Clinic held at St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, has kindly prepared the following brief report on the working of the Clinic during
1933 :—
THE CITY OF LONDON WELFARECENTRE, HELD AT ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL.
The Welfare Centre was reorganised at the beginning of 1933. It will be recalled that
the innovations then introduced were the appointment of a medical officer to attend at the
sessions and the appointment of a trained health visitor to visit the infants in their homes
and to carry out the non-medical duties at the weekly sessions of the centre. The medical
officer seeing the children during 1933 was Dr. A. W. Franklin, and the health visitor was
Miss S. A. Backhouse.
Of the total number of 219 infants under 5 years of age in the City, 164 attended the
centre during 1933. The total attendances during the year numbered 1,800. It is a matter
of congratulation that so high a proportion of the infant population made use of the centre,
a proportion that compares favourably with any other area within my knowledge. The
number of home visits carried out by Miss Backhouse was 1,043, and this undoubtedly
contributed largely to this satisfactory result. The average monthly attendances of infants
rose during the course of the year from 77 in January to 227 in November (the figure 150
for December is not comparable because of the holiday).
It seems probable that one of the most satisfactory features of the welfare centre is
its close association with the children's department of the Hospital. Although it is run as
an entirely separate enterprise for the management of healthy infants, it is possible for the
mothers to get advice at the Hospital, if their babies should fall sick between the sessions
of the centre; also the transfer of an ill child for treatment from the centre to the children's
department of the Hospital is an extremely simple matter. The point is illustrated by the
fact that in 1933 six of the babies attending the centre were admitted to the children's
ward of the Hospital for the treatment of diseases discovered at the centre. Furthermore,
in the course of the year, over 2,000 bottles of medicine of one sort or another were issued
by the Hospital dispensary to babies attending the centre.
It goes without saying that the City of London Welfare Centre is capable of still further
development; yet it can be said with confidence that it has as great possibilities of usefulness
as any similar enterprise in the country.
(Signed) CHARLES F. HARRIS, M.D., F.R.C.P.,
Physician to the Children's Department,
St. Bartholomew's Hospital.