View report page

CHILD WELFARE AND TODDLERS' CLINICS
In agreement with the experience recorded by other areas the expected fall in the
number of children attending at child welfare clinics has not yet materialised. Several
of these clinics were becoming overloaded with cases and it was decided in January,
1961 to re-open morning toddlers' sessions at Leyton Green and Park House Clinics;
once a month at Park House and twice a month at Leyton Green. The Dawlish Road Clinic
had continued to have a fortnightly toddlers' session and no change was made there.
At these sessions all cases are seen by appointment and are mainly children who
present problems of one kind or another or children who have not attended at the welfare
clinic for a long time. The essence of good preventive medicine is time; time to listen
to a mother as well as to talk to her and this has proved the great advantage of these
special sessions.
Not only has the mother been more relaxed but so is the child and he or she is
more receptive to being examined by the Medical Officer than in a rather busy bustling
infant welfare clinic. While waiting to see the Medical Officer the children have room
to play in the waiting room with books and toys and the Health Visitor conducting the
toddlers' session can report to the Medical Officer any unusual behaviour revealed there.
The toddlers' sessions are proving very useful in detecting and helping early behaviour
difficulties but the numbers seen at each session must be kept low or its usefulness
deteriorates. Ten in a session of three hours is really the maximum unless some of the
cases are there to report progress and can be dealt with in a shorter time than the
rest. There are of course some children with no problems of behaviour but their mothers
do seem to appreciate knowing that their children are developing normally and like to
have this reassurance expressed to them.
PREMATURE BIRTHS
In 1961 the Ministry of Health and the Central Health Services Council issued a
report by "The Sub-Committee on the Prevention of Prematurity and the care of Premature
Infants" in which attention was drawn to the need of local authorities to provide
special care for premature babies.
Amongst several recommendations made it was suggested that nursing care of the
infants in the home should be undertaken by midwives with special training in this work.
In Leyton approximately 83% of births take place in hospital and very few cases
requiring hospital care are likely to be confined at home. This area is very fortunate
in that cases of toxaemia, ante-partum haemorrhage and multiple pregnancy, which account
for 50% of premature births, are almost invariably admitted to hospital for their
confinement.
In the four years 1958 to 1961 44 premature babies were born at home. The following
table reveals the type of cases we have:-
(45)