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3. HEALTH CLINICS
The Council has 16 health clinics sited to be reasonably accessible to every mother
in the borough. By the end of the year the mobile clinic was being used for regular child
welfare sessions at Brentham Estate, Steele Road, Acton, and Hanwell Community Centre.
The clinic has proved popular with mothers who appreciate having such facilities near
their homes. At these clinics sessions are provided for ante-natal and post-natal care,
child welfare, immunisation and vaccination, cervical cytology, family planning, dental
care, speech therapy, chiropody and physiotherapy. They are staffed by a medical officer,
a dental officer, health visitors and clinic nurses. In addition, they form the centre
from which is carried out the domiciliary work of the surrounding district, namely home
nursing, midwifery, and health visiting. Detailed accounts of the various services
provided at clinics are given either below or as part of other sections of this report:-
ANTE-NATAL AND POST-NATAL SESSIONS
Two types of ante-natal sessions are held at clinics:-
1. Midwife's sessions, where a mother is regularly seen by the midwife who will
attend her at confinement. The usual practice is for a mother to alternate a
clinic attendance with a visit to her family doctor who is responsible for her
ante-natal care.
2. Medical Officers' sessions. The pattern today is generally towards ante-natal
care being undertaken by family doctors and hospitals. Approximately one in five
mothers, however, still attend the clinic for ante-natal care by the Council's
medical staff.
The figures for 1969 were as follows:-
516 mothers attended medical officers' sessions for their ante-natal care.
291 mothers attended midwives' sessions for their ante-natal care.
1946 mothers attended ante-natal relaxation classes.
157 mothers attended post-natal sessions.
CHILD WELFARE SESSIONS
At these sessions, teaching in infant feeding, general care and mothercraft is given
by the medical officer and the health visitor. The medical officer is responsible for
all the new babies and being concerned with feeding problems, behaviour difficulties,
and the follow-up of all children needing medical supervision.
When children reach their first birthday, then and on subsequent birthdays until the
age of five, they are sent an attractively designed birthday card. This contains a
request for the mother to bring the child to the clinic for a "birthday check". By this
means the medical officer is able to determine the developmental progress of each child
and to assess if there is any departure from normal.
Apart from routine work of this sort, other important screening procedures are
carried out:-
(i) Particularly careful surveillance is given to children with certain ante-natal
or peri-natal histories, for example, the child of a mother who has had German
measles during pregnancy. An observation register is kept, and the total at the
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