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68
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Under this head the Ministry of Health asks that in the case of Metropolitan
Boroughs information should be provided with regard to (a) the incidence of
puerperal fever, ophthalmia neonatorum, and other infectious diseases, and
(b) general arrangements for attending to the health of expectant and nursing
mothers and children under five years of age.
Inasmuch as the information asked for with regard to the infectious diseases
has already been given under the heading relating to the prevention and control of
these diseases, it is unnecessary to refer to them again here. It is proposed, therefore,
at this point to deal only with the question of arrangements for attending to the
health of expectant and nursing mothers and children, and to give a short description
of the scheme in operation in the Borough.
Although it was not then known as a "Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme,"
works in this connection were inaugurated in 1906, and in the discussions that arise
from time to time as to which was the first district to begin infant welfare work, the
name of St. Marylebone is always mentioned as at least being among the earliest.
The composition of the scheme now in existence has been very frequently
described in annual reports. As is well known, it contains voluntary and official
elements. Of the voluntary elements, to the nature of which reference is made
later, those for which the St. Marylebone Health Society is responsible bulk largest,
and the Council and the inhabitants of the Borough are greatly indebted to this body
and those who work for it for what they have done and what they are doing in
relation to maternal and child welfare.
Apart from the Health Society, however, there are other bodies that assist, and
that are more or less definitely linked up to the main scheme, the connecting link
being the Public Health Department of the Council. Amongst these bodies may be
mentioned Queen Charlotte's Hospital and Middlesex Hospital, which in addition
to providing lying-in accommodation, arrange for attention to be given to out door
patients as well, and conduct ante-natal clinics and infant consultations. Less
definitely part of the scheme, but still doing very valuable work and helping whenever
possible, are St. Agatha's Home, The Home of the Little Company of Mary,
and The Home of the St. Marylebone Female Protection Society, where unmarried
mothers particularly are provided for, both before and after the birth of their child.
A special feature is made at St. Agatha's of keeping the mother and child together
for at least three to six months after the birth, and of endeavouring to arrange that
they shall be together after leaving the home. On several occasions places on the
domestic staff of one or other of the institutions—day nurseries, for example—within
the scheme, have been found for mothers from the home.
The following summaries give a number of details with regard to the arrangements
under the scheme and of the extent of the work done during 1919. It will be
noted that at the end of the year there were available seven centres where attention
was given to infant and child welfare, and if those at the hospitals are included four
ante-natal clinics. At some of the centres consultations are held every day, sometimes
twice a day. In addition to the ordinary infant and young child ("toddlers")
consultations, there is a dental clinic for mothers and young children, four days, for two
of which the Health Society is responsible, and a nursing home for babies to which
the Council now make a contribution of £1,000 per annum. By arrangement with
the London County Council the dental clinic is used also by school children, and in
conjunction with this there is now also a minor ailment treatment centre for school
children.