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49
Public Offices,
Enfield.
17th April, 1938.
To the Chairman and Members of the Urban District Council of Enfield.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,
I beg to place before you my report on the Maternity and Child
Welfare services of Enfield for the year 1937.
That these services are appreciated by the public is evidenced
by the fact that over 3,000 more attendances were made this year than
last, whilst looking back over a period of 10 years, I find that in 1928
the total attendances at all our Clinics amounted to 22,531, and in
1937 they were 36,828. At our Ante-natal Clinics alone 200 more
mothers received advice this year than in 1936.
There are in Enfield approximately 7,000 children under the age
of five years and nearly half of them attend at our Clinics. These
figures shew the extent to which the Council's Maternity and Child
Welfare service caters for the population.
It cannot be held that the popularity of the Council's Clinics
is in proportion to the gifts in kind that can be obtained there, for
in actual fact the amount of milk and dried food given free by the
Council last year diminished by 1,000 gallons and 50 lbs. respectively.
Ninteen thirty-seven was an important year from the point of
view of Maternity and Child Welfare.
In the first place the Council applied to the Minister of Health
to be made the Local Supervising Authority under the Midwives
Acts and consent was obtained from the Minister as from the 1st
April, 1937. This was important in that it meant not only the supervision
of the midwives of the district by the Enfield Council but also
that the duty devolved on the Council of preparing and putting into
force a municipal midwifery scheme for the district.
In the second place application was made to the Middlesex
County Council that the Enfield District Council have transferred
to it the County's powers in connection with the registration of nursing
homes in Enfield. Such transfer also took place as from April 1st,
J937-
There are only 7 Local Supervising Authorities in Middlesex
of which Enfield is one ; there are only 6 Authorities that are both
Supervising Authorities and Local Education Authorities, and again
Enfield is one.
The preparation of a scheme in connection with the Midwives