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38
Health Centres.
There are three modern and well situated Health Service Clinics at
which the major part of the health services' and school medical services'
work is carried out.
When the Essex County Health Services clinics at Leyton Green
Road and Granleigh Road were opened in 1933/35 respectively they
were designed for two separate functions, i.e. School Health Services
and the Maternity and Child Welfare Services of the Borough Council.
These separate functions were clearly defined and it was found that the
parts of the buildings assigned for child welfare work were used on only
four afternoons a week and, similarly, the parts assigned for school health
services' work were used, in the main, for the mornings only.
Since that time, with the inception of the Education Act, 1944 and
the National Health Service Act, 1946, the clinics are now all-purpose
clinics and much of the work is integrated.
With the introduction of the National Health Service Act, whereby
every person was able to sign on with a general medical practitioner, the
numbers of children attending the minor ailment clinic sessions of the
School Health Service decreased ; and apart from the two mornings when
doctors are in attendance, these sessions now terminate at 10.30 a.m.
Clinic premises are costly to build and to maintain and therefore the
most economical use should be made of them.
Since I commenced my term of duty at Leyton I have carefully considered
the use of clinics and, in consequence, during 1956 recommended
to the Committee that the foot clinics and speech therapy clinic should
be assigned to the Health Services Clinics and that there should be one
all-purpose doctor's room at each of these premises instead of two as
formerly.
Early in 1957, following the acceptance of my recommendations by
the Committee, the disposition of these clinic sessions was carried out and
the clinic premises are now fully used and we have been able to terminate
the renting of the premises at High Road Baths formerly used for these
purposes.
Care of Mothers and Young Children.
The registered births were 1,185 and the birth-rate of 11.74 continues
to be much below the national average of 15.6. The ante-natal
Clinics and the Child Welfare Clinics continue to serve a most useful
purpose, and it is of interest to note that the attendances at the Child
Welfare Clinics are 11% higher than the previous year, in spite of the
birth-rate in 1955 being the lowest ever recorded in the Area. There were
no deaths of Leyton residents due to maternal causes during 1956.
Dental services for nursing and expectant mothers and children
under five years of age are carried out by all the dental officers.
Ante-Natal Relaxation Exercises.
Each health visitor holds her own classes and teaches the mother
the ante-natal exercises. But the great value of these classes is an
educational one. The health visitor is very careful to ensure that the