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Six Health Visitors are employed, approximately half
their time being spent on Maternity and Child Welfare work,
and a half on the work of the School Medical Service. Two
sessions per week are held at Child's Hill and West Hendon
Centres, one session at Central Hendon, and one session per
fortnight at Mill Hill and Temple Fortune. There is a special
antenatal session once a fortnight at Central Hendon and
West Heindon alternately.
An effort is made to keep in touch with all the children
until they reach school age, whether they attend the Centres
or not. Those who do not attend are visited periodically at
home, but the supervision is, of course, much more complete
in the case of the children who attend the Centres. A
fair proportion continue to attend, at least occasionally, right
up to school age. When, they go to school, their records
are passed on to the School Medical Service and the coordination
between the two services may be said to be
complete.
The Maternity and Child Welfare work has been greatly
developed in the last 5' years, both in the direction of
co-ordination with the School Medical Service and of extension
of scope. At the beginning of 1921, the Council had
3 Child Welfare Centres at each of which one session per week
was held. There were 2 Health Visitors and 2 School Nurses
whose work was entirely separate, and although they cooperated
to some extent, there was no definite co-ordination
of the two services. It was not possible to attempt any
effective supervision of children who did not attend the
Centres, and there was comparatively little supervision of
children between 1 and 5 years of age.
Now there are 5 Centres, with a total of 6 sessions per
week, and in addition two antenatal sessions per month.
There is a total of 6 Health Visitors for the Materinity and
Child Welfare and School Medical Services combined and
the 2 services are completely co-ordinated, a serious attempt
being made to keep all the children coming within the scope
of the Services under supervision from birth until they leave
school.
The notifications of Puerperal Fever, Ophthalmia
Neonatorum and Poliomyelitis are shown in the following
Table:—