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(c) The use of the school clinics for the treatment of minor ailments and special
defects in young children ;
(d) The establishment of day nurseries in areas where a considerable number of
mothers are regularly employed.
In London, the corresponding percentage of school entrants found to require
treatment in 1935 was 13.8. The bulk of these children were suffering from enlarged
tonsils and adenoids. Diseases of the eye, diseases of the skin, defects of the lung,
anaemia, or discharging ears, accounted for most of the remainder.
After receipt of this circular, the arrangements for the care of the toddler in
Woolwich were reviewed by the Council, and from this review it appeared that in
1935
(a) The estimated number of children aged 1-5 years was 7,502 and that 3,940
of these were in attendance or on the roll of public elementary schools.
(b) The average number of visits paid per annum to children aged 1-5 years
was 1.6, but all children whether suitable for visiting or not, and whether
or not they were in attendance at school, were included in this calculation.
(c) The total average number of visits paid to children who were visited regularly
during the first five years of life was 11.3 in the first five years.
(d) A toddlers clinic for the routine medical inspection of toddlers aged 2, 3
and 4 years had been established in Woolwich for six years and in 1935,1,314
children were examined at this clinic.
(e) Forty-seven per cent. of all children over one year attended an ordinary
infant welfare centre at least once during the year.
(/) The attendances of children at the ordinary infant welfare centres falls
after they are one year old. This was measured in the following way.
The cards of 508 children taken at random from the permanent files, were
examined in order to ascertain at what period the attendances at infant
welfare centres ceased. At the end of the first year the number of children
had been reduced to 421 ; at 18 months to 378 ; at 2 years to 360 ; at 3
years to 270 ; at 4 years to 158, and to 48 at 5 years, and these 48 actually
made attendances in their sixth year. These figures relate of course to
children who have been attending the centres and one attendance in a year
was regarded as attendance during the period.
(g) The treatment of toddlers defects at the school clinics has been for many
years an important feature of the Woolwich infant welfare scheme. In
1935, 309 children were so treated for minor ailments and 382 for dental
defects.
(h) Arrangements have been in force for many years with the Woolwich Invalid
Children's Aid Association for orthopaedic treatment and convalescent
home treatment ; with the local nursing associations for nursing assistance
and the War Memorial Hospital for hospital treatment.