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MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
There has been no extension of the scheme during 1933,
but the numbers dealt with at the Centres have shown a large
increase in spite of the fact that the number of births continues
to fall steadily.
Apart from some disorganisation due to sickness among
the Health Visiting Staff, the work has gone on very
smoothly, and this is in a large measure due to co-operation
between the Voluntary Workers and the Council's staff, and
the large amount of their time which the former so unselfishly
devote to the care of the mothers and young children
of the Borough—surely the best form of social work imaginable.
Infant Welfare Centres.
There were 13,427 attendances of children at the three
centres in 1933 as compared with 12,073 in 1932, an increase
of nearly 12%. Seven thousand eight hundred and one were
attendances of children under one year of age, and 5,626 of
children over one year.
Three hundred and sixty-three children under one year
attended for the first time during the year, a number equal
to 56.7% of the total notified live births.
The average attendance of children at all sessions was
44, as compared with 39 in 1932.
Antenatal Clinic.
One hundred and twenty-two expectant mothers attended
the Antenatal Clinic in 1933, a small increase on the previous
year. It does not appear that there is much scope for
increasing these numbers.
During the year only 56 confinements were conducted
bv midwives, and a considerable proportion of the mothers
concerned attended the Antenatal Clinic.
One hundred and thirty-five women were confined in the
Wellhouse Hospital, and all of these attended the Antenatal
Clinic at that Hospital.
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