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25
CARE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
Under Section 22 of the National Health Service Act, 1946,
it is the duty of every Local Health Authority to make arrangements
for the care, including, in particular, dental care of expectant
and nursing mothers and of children who have not attained the
age of five years and are not attending primary schools maintained
by a Local Education Authority.
Care of Unmarried Mother and her child
At the beginning of the year there were two Homes for
Unmarried Mothers within the Borough, one maintained by a Trust
Fund, the other by the Rochester Diocesan Council for Social
Work. The former was closed and the property disposed of during
the year. The other Home has accommodation for up to fourteen
expectant and nursing mothers, and is used by several local
authorities.
Recent major structural alterations caused a substantial rise
in the weekly maintenance rate, and it is understood that consequently
some authorities cancelled bookings, and by so doing were
instrumental in creating a situation leading to a further increase.
Few residents of the Borough were admitted to the Home, in view
of the considered desirability for these young women to be able
to leave the immediate neighbourhood of their own homes.
Generally, despite the efforts of the managing bodies, maintenance
costs at Mother and Baby Homes throughout London and
South East England continue to rise, though a somewhat artificial
situation has arisen whereby there is a heavy demand for accommodation
at the lower priced establishments, while there are empty
beds at those Homes where a more realistic economic charge
obtains.
The Council accepted financial liability for the maintenance
of 62 unmarried mothers at various Mother and Baby Homes
during the year under review.
Births
Of the 4,869 births notified, 3,776 occurred in hospitals and
1,093 were domiciliary births.
Welfare Foods
All Child Welfare Clinics sell Welfare Foods in addition to a
range of Proprietary Baby Foods. Sales for the year were:—
14,838 tins of National Dried Milk
4,935 bottles of Cod Liver Oil
7,074 packets of Vitamin Tablets
136,470 bottles of Orange Juice
Proprietary foods to the value of £15,118 4s. 7d. were sold
during the same period.