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
Harrow 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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61
INFANT WELFARE SERVICES.
HOME VISITING BY THE HEALTH VISITORS.
Routine visits are paid to infants as soon as possible after the
fourteenth day, and special visits are paid to cases of ophthalmia
neonatorum, puerperal infection, still births, infant deaths, etc.
Each health visitor is appointed infant protection visitor for her
own area.
The following table shows the number of visits paid by the health visitors during the year:—
| To expectant mothers | First visits 717 | |
| Total visits 1,221 | ||
| (b) | To children under one year of age | First visits 3,293 |
| Total visits 8,750 | ||
| (c) | To children between the ages of one and five years | Total visits 13,283 |
INFANT WELFARE CENTRES.
At the beginning of the year, 23 infant welfare sessions were
held at 11 separate premises. In June an additional session was
opened at the Methodist Church Hall, Walton Avenue; in November
another session at St. George's Hall, Headstone; and in the same
month a session was opened at St. Anselm's Hall, Hatch End. At
the end of the year 26 weekly sessions were being held at 12 separate
premises. At these there was an average weekly attendance in
December of 1,340 compared with a figure of 1,166 in the corresponding
month of the previous year. At most of the sessions
two health visitors attend, the health visitor in charge at any clinic
being, as far as possible, the one who visits the district which
the clinic serves. In addition a number of voluntary workers
kindly assist at the clinics. A large proportion of the time of each
health visitor, therefore, is taken up by her attendances at the
clinics and restricts the extent of her home visiting. On the other
hand, as, at the clinics, each mother is personally interviewed by
the health visitor, there is, in the case of the more regular attenders,
less need for frequent home visits.
The following table shows the work done at the Infant Welfare Centres during the year:—
| Total attendances at all Centres:— | |
| (1) By children under one year of age | 52,905 |
| (2) By children between the ages of one and five years | 33,425 |
| Total number of children who first attended at the Centres during the year and who on the date of their first attendance were:— | |
| (1) Under one year of age | 2,889 |
| (2) Between the ages of one and five years | 1,497 |