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in 1906. In that year, the infantile mortality rate was 111;
it has now fallen to a steady 62 per 1,000 births, which, expressed
otherwise, represents a saving of 140 infant lives in
1922.
In 1922, the Council, with the approval of the Ministry
of Health, paid the class fees of two Health Visitors attending
a refresher course for Health Visitors.
Administrative Action in Connection with the Notification
of Births. As a matter of routine, as soon as a notification
of a birth is received, suitable literature is sent to the mother
by post and a first visit is made between the tenth and fourteenth
day. It has been found as a matter of experience
that it is not easy to ascertain at a first visit how much the
mother knows, and how much she requires to be told, and
so the necessity for subsequent visits is gauged by the impression
gained at the first. As a general rule, an endeavour
is made to work to the following standard 4 visits during
the first year, and 1 visit in subsequent years up to school age.
Other Work. In addition to these visits, the Health Visitors
have made investigations into the cause of infant deaths and
still-births, and have visited notified cases of Ophthalmia
Neonatorum, Puerperal Fever, and Pneumonia in children
under 5 years. A considerable amount of their time in the
early part of the year was taken up with work in connection
with the distribution of free milk under the Council's assisted
milk scheme, but it was found possible, by the issue of a
suitable form, to diminish their work in connection with this
very considerably and so enable them to devote more time
to Health Visiting.
The following table, No. 41, shows the classification of
visits paid by the Health Visitors in 1921 and 1922.
E 2