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highest average in London. With regard to the maternity
services, I am informed that these services are available for
all Metropolitan Boroughs with the exception of a few on
the periphery of the County. There appears to be little
doubt that, when the ambulance station is open in Woolwich
(it is hoped in 1924), these services will be extended to
this Borough also. Ambulances can be obtained, on payment,
from the Metropolitan Asylums Board for the removal of
non-infectious cases, and the ambulances of the Guardians
are available for admission to their institutions.
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
It will be convenient to deal here with the work of the
Council in connection with Maternity and Child Welfare
during the year.
Staff. The staff at the end of the year is shewn in detail
in Section VIII.
During the year, the Council, with the approval of the
Ministry of Health, appointed an additional Assistant Medical
Officer who devotes half of his time to Maternity and Child
Welfare work and half to Tuberculosis. By this arrangement
it was possible to increase the number of sessions at
which medical consultations were given.
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 the first visit is made by the Health Visitor
between the tenth and fourteenth day in all cases where
such visits are considered necessary or desirable. The necessity
for second visits is gauged by what is discovered at the
first visit, but as a general rule it has been found possible
to work up to the following standard :—three visits during the
first year and one visit in each subsequent year up to the
age of five.
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