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booklet is left giving detailed directions as to the care of the
infant. Any obvious sanitary defect on the premises is reported
at once. The personal advice of the nurse is, however,
of the greatest value, as very often the people for whom
these booklets are prepared are too indifferent to read them.
This booklet has been revised during the year 1912, and it
contains the same advice which is given in all the Metropolitan
Boroughs. This uniformity I consider most desirable.
The visits of the nurse are best made fairly early, but
in the very cases where they are most necessary information
first reaches us through the weekly returns of the Registrar,
and by then the child, if it has survived, is usually six or
seven weeks' old. I am still of the opinion that better results
would be obtained if the Notification of Births Act was repealed
and the Registration Act so amended as to make all
births registerable within, say, five days.
The nurse has instructions to report at once any collection
of rubbish or manure which would form a breeding
ground for flies, or in any other way cause a nuisance.
While making her domiciliary visits in connection with
the Notification of Births Act and the treatment of School
Children, the nurse has an eye to any other children that
may be in the home, and if there is any defect calling for
notice the parent is advised what to do, or the matter is
brought to the notice of the Children's Care Committee, of
which the nurse is a member. Should the case be necessitous,
relief, or other help, is given.
Summary of the work done in this connection by the
lady health visitor:—
Number of houses visited—160.
Number of visits paid—240.
Proportion of births visited to total births—approximate,
17.4 per cent. (last year 15 per cent).
Of the 160 infants visited, 125 (about 78.1 per cent.) were
breast fed.