London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Woolwich 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Woolwich]
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129
All foster mothers are urged to attend the Council's welfare centres with the
children under five years of age in their charge, and special care is taken to see
that children who are weak and ailing attend. Three nurse children died during
the year.
The only institution in the Borough holding a certificate of exemption is the
Woolwich War Memorial Hospital.
The Work of the Welfare Centres.—These are eight in number and are
all municipal. Infant Welfare sessions are held at all of them ; ante-natal sessions
are held at four—in two instances twice weekly, in one instance thrice weekly,
and in one instance once a month. With the inclusion of the fortnightly antenatal
sessions at North Woolwich, at the end of the year 75 ante-natal sessions and
26.5 infant consultation and weighing sessions were being held each week.
In tabular form below are shown detailed statistics for 1938 and the consolidated
statistics for the previous year:—
TABLE No. 75.
| Centre. | Number on Roll of Centre. | Number of Attendances. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mothers. | Children. | Mothers. | Children. | |||
| Expectant. | Nursing. | Expectant. | Nursing. | |||
| Town Hall | 470 | 200 | 1,289 | 1,023 | 340 | 9,355 |
| Plumstead | 347 | 370 | 1,172 | 914 | 702 | 7,835 |
| Eltham | 541 | 188 | 1,034 | 1,735 | 313 | 7,217 |
| Slade | — | 136 | 564 | — | 193 | 5,377 |
| New Eltham | — | 48 | 561 | — | 58 | 6,647 |
| St. Luke's | — | 60 | 370 | — | 61 | 4,169 |
| North Woolwich | 35 | 20 | 132 | 142 | 29 | 1,280 |
| Beresford Street | 34 | 80 | 84 | 16 | 99 | 758 |
| Totals, 1938 | 1,427 | 1,102 | 5,206 | 3,830 | 1,795 | 42,638 |
| Totals, 1937 | 1,188 | 1,037 | 5,074 | 2,919 | 1,775 | 39,383 |
The next Table No. 76, shows the number of children attending each centre
and the number of attendances made by them during the year. It should be noted
that children are classified in the table by year of birth, so that the figures cannot
be read as under one year, under two years and so on. They illustrate, however,
quite definitely the fact that the toddler does not attend such clinics in large numbers,
and that as he gets older he attends less. The figures in this table do not include
those of the Toddlers Clinics or of the Sunlight Clinic.