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12
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
The services provided under this heading will cease to be
administered by this Authority as a result of the operation of
Part ,3 of the National Health Service Act, 1946, and will from
the appointed day, namely, 5th July, 1948, become the responsibility
of the Local Health Authority, i.e., the Middlesex
County Council, operating through an Area Committee on
which this Authority will be represented.
A short historical review of the development of these services
may be appropriate at this stage.
The first official reference to Maternity and Child Welfare
is contained in the Report of Dr. Andrew, the then Medical
Officer of Health, in his Report for the year 1919, which reads
as follows:—
"The staff employed by the Council for this work
consists of a Lady Doctor, two Health Visitors and a
Midwife.
On receiving a notification of a birth of a living child
a pamphlet giving instructions on the care and rearing of
the infant is sent to the parents. In all instances where
the assistance of a Health Visitor is required, visits are
made, after 10 days from the date of birth, and the
mothers are invited to attend with their infants at one
of the Centres provided by the Council.
Two Centres are being used in this District, one at
West Hendon and the other at Child's Hill. The building
used at West Hendon is not suitable for the work, and
more commodious premises are now being erected in the
vicinity. Arrangements for opening a Centre in Central
Hendon are nearly completed.
The Centres are opened one day in each week—Child's
Hill on Wednesdays, and West Hendon on Fridays—and
are conducted by Dr. Jessie Granger-Evans, assisted by
the Health Visitors and Voluntary Helpers.