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134
The shelter erected in the garden a few years ago has been greatly improved.
It has been made about three feet wider and glass windows have
been added, which can be closed in inclement weather. This new arrangement
is of great benefit in the damp, cold, winter days.
Sun Babies Nursery, Norris Street, Hoxton.
The amount payable in respect of discontinued Ministry grant is
£1,013 4s. l0d.
For several years an annual grant of £63 per annum has been paid by
the Borough Council in consideration of the value of the work done by this
Nursery for the Shoreditch children living in the vicinity.
Accommodation for 100 children is available at this Nursery, though
with this number the Nursery is somewhat crowded and the average attendance
is rather less.
The number of whole day attendances during 1931 was 20,633 and of
half-day attendances 1,128. The corresponding figures for 1930 were : whole
day, 20,489; half-day, 1,296.
Dr. Leslie Ladell, the Medical Officer in charge, resigned in May, 1931
on his appointment to a post under the Ministry of Health, and was succeeded
by Dr. Margaret Morton. Dr. Morton attends the Nursery once weekly
for the purpose of examining the children.
An arrangement has been made under which the services of a local
medical practitioner are available in emergency.
There is a carbon arc lamp at the Nursery, and Dr. Morton gives artificial
sunlight treatment twice a week to the children attending.
In her report, Dr. Morton writes of the generally encouraging response
to this treatment, which, as she points out, has always been combined with
careful supervision of the dietary. Bronchial conditions, however, have
proved intractable to treatment, and this Dr. Morton attributes partly to the
necessarily irregular attendance of these children and partly to the fact that
the condition is frequently due to bad housing conditions and lack of sunlight
of such degree that their ill effects cannot be counteracted by light treatment
and diet.
Dr. Morton makes the further point that great difficulty is experienced
in obtaining convalescent treatment for the bronchial child. It is understood
that a scheme is afoot for the establishment of a small home to which this
type of child will be admitted from the Nursery, and it is much to be hoped
that this will materialize.
Dr. Mary Luff, who holds the diploma of Psychological Medicine,
attends the Nursery at fortnightly intervals for the purpose of detecting early
mental defect or abnormality and of advising as to the course of action
most suitable to the case.