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47
Attendances at Infant Welfare Clinics.
Number of General Clinics held during the year 348
Total number of attendances 18,196
Number of medical consultations at General Clinics 9,054
Number of medical consultations at Special Clinics 1,233
The daily average of attendances at the Clinics were as
follows :—
White House, Monday afternoon 64
Manor Park, Tuesday morning 54
North Woolwich, Tuesday afternoon 17
Masterman Road, Wednesday afternoon Til
White House, Thursday morning 36
White House, Thursday afternoon 71
White House, Friday afternoon 73
White House, Special Clinics 16
At the Clinic every child is undressed before weighing, and
is carefully observed by the Health Visitor as regards clothing,
general nutrition, condition of the skin, and any defects in development,
and the mother advised with regard to general management
and feeding of the child. A selected number of children is
seen by the Medical Officer at each Clinic for specialised examination
and advice. An effort is being made to examine each child
thoroughly, within the last three months of attendance at the
Clinic, before reaching school age. The teeth and throat receive
special attention.
As pointed out in 1927 Report, the Infant Welfare Clinics
are not dispensaries for the treatment of sick children, but seek
to maintain the health of the healthy child, and to afford guidance
towards its normal and successful upbringing. Yet, while this
is so, many departures from the normal are discovered at the
medical examination of children, and such cases, medical or
surgical, are referred to their own doctors for treatment, or to
hospitals or dispensaries suitable for their conditions. Simple
ailments of infancy in children attending the Centres are treated
at the Morning Clinics at the White House.
It is a significant fact that of the 11 children under the age
of five who were notified during 1928 in East Ham as suffering
from Tuberculosis, in all forms, were cases referred by the Medical
Officer of the Infant Welfare Clinics to the Tuberculosis Officer.