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Public Health (London) Act, Part XII.—Every birth occurring in the
Borough requires to be notified to the Medical Officer of Health within thirty-six
hours of birth and only a very small percentage of births are not notified. As
soon as a notification is received, a booklet—Health and Happiness for Baby—
dealing with the care and comfort of mothers and infants, is sent by post to every
mother. Subsequently, between the tenth and fourteenth day, a visit is paid to
the home by the health visitor, who decides on her first visit the necessity for subsequent
visits. Children are visited at least once a year until they go to school
and special attention is paid at such visits to the toddler to the early recognition
of physical defects.
The Work of the Health Visitors.—The importance of home visiting and
the supervision of the health of the mother and child is now fully recognised and
the influence of the health visitor is greater to-day than it has ever been. As an
agent for teaching hygiene in the home her work is of enormous importance. The
varied nature of the work can be seen from Table No. 72. The number of visits
paid by the Council's Health Visitors during the year is summarised in the following
Table

Following their usual practice the Council gave the necessary facilities to two
health visitors to attend refresher courses and paid their expenses.