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THE HEALTH OF BARKING
The major difficulty remains in finding suitable accommodation for the aged
sick. A bed of any kind is very difficult to obtain for these cases; suitable
accommodation almost impossible. The home helps service and the district
nursing associations do much to help in these circumstances.
The hospital service of the future envisages that specialists will hold clinics
in health centres as well as in hospitals so as to make the service as convenient as
possible to the patient. Your specialist services may be regarded as already largely
fulfilling this function.
Barking Maternity Unit. In the middle of the year you revised your system
of bookings for the Barking Maternity Unit to provide for priority categories.
Priority No. i was medical grounds, No. 2 was social grounds and No. 3 was for
women having their first babies, the last mentioned cases being booked in the
order of application.
It has been found generally that this order of priority has worked very well.
The number of cases sent during the year to maternity institutions outside
the Borough was 45.
Clinics and Treatment Centres.
A list of the centres at which clinical sessions are held is given on page 7.
The services which were previously held in the Greig Church Hall, Stamford Road,
have now been transferred to Woodward Clinic which has been adapted from the
ad hoc first aid post. It will be remembered this first aid post was built on to the
remaining structure of the original Woodward Clinic which was almost completely
destroyed by enemy action in the early part of the war.
Arrangements were also completed for the adaption of the Porters Avenue First
Aid Post for clinic purposes.
Below are given the total attendances at your various clinics and out-patients
departments for the past three years:—
Year. Total Attendances.
1945 115,000
1946 I47,254
1947 155,852
Chiropody Clinics.
During the year, chiropody was undertaken at the East Street Clinic as
heretofore, but it is anticipated that in the New Year either one or two chairs will
be provided at the Woodward Clinic, making this service more readily available to
the residents living in the Barking portion of the Becontree Estate.
Statistics relating to this service will be found in Appendix B, Table IX.
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