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One death of a child under 5 years of age occurred in the City during the year. In such circumstances
details of the name and home address are forwarded to the Education Authority.
There have been no deaths of expectant or nursing mothers during the period.
During the year the Metropolitan District Nursing Association provided a district nursing
and domiciliary midwifery service to the City.
Child Welfare Clinic
The Child Welfare Clinic is held twice weekly at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The staff
consists of a part-time clinic clerk who also issues welfare foods and a health visitor whose
work includes health education, mothercraft classes and tests for phenylketonuria and early signs
of deafness. The Senior Paediatrician of the hospital, is Clinic Medical Officer.
During the year there were 754 (543) attendances at the Clinic and 286 (196) medical examinations
were carried out.
An 'at risk' register is maintained for children under 5 years of age and at the end of the
year there were 4 (2) names on it.
Day Nurseries
There is no nursery or creche in the City where mothers can leave children under proper
supervision.
Enquiries were received during the period for places in day nurseries and arrangements
were made with a voluntary nursery in an adjacent borough for the children of working mothers
to be placed therein. The cost of maintenance was guaranteed by the Corporation. At the end of
the year one child was still attending.
It is appropriate here to mention the Nurseries and Child Minders Regulations Act, 1948.
During the period there were no enquiries for services or registration under this Act and very few
are expected. However, advertisements were inserted in appropriate newspapers to draw the
attention of persons to the requirements of the Act.
Unmarried Mothers and their Children
Two cases were referred to the department although Moral Welfare bodies dealt with 28 (17)
City worker cases. The Corporation deal with such cases either under the National Health Service
Act, 1946 or the National Assistance Act, 1948, whichever is more appropriate to the circumstances.
Fire gu ards
Where necessary, fireguards were lent to families with children under 12 years of age and also
to elderly, handicapped or blind persons.
Welfare Foods
In addition to those sold at the Child Welfare Clinic held at St. Bartholomew's Hospital,
supplies were sold from the Guildhall office during the lunch period.
Dental Services - See Dental Officer's report.
SECTION 23 - MIDWIVES SERVICE
As mentioned previously the Metropolitan District Nursing Association provide these
services in the City.
Emergency services for night and weekend calls are organised on a rota basis, but by agreement
the Whittington Hospital takes all such calls from patients and passes them on to the midwife
on duty. Living accommodation for staff is provided where necessary in Corporation property
in the City's Golden Lane Estate.
The authorities of the Inner and Middle Temples have requested the Corporation to provide
midwifery services in their areas and this has been agreed. At the end of the year no Order had
been made regulating the provision of services in the Temples.
During the period under review the Metropolitan District Nursing Association dealt with 2 (1)
domiciliary confinements and 1 (1) early discharge of mother and baby from hospital.
Midwives \ct, 1951
The Corporation is the Supervising Authority for the City of London which includes St.
Bartholomew's Hospital. 27 (13) midwives notified their intention to practice.
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