View report page

(vi) Convalescent Home Treatment.— 249 children were sent
away for Convalescent Home Treatment during 1933. Included
in this number were 22 sent away in conjunction with the Walthamstow
Association of Tuberculosis Care Helpers. There were
77 children remaining in convalescent Homes and Hospital
Schools in December, 1933.
The conditions for which children were sent, included the
following: Debility, 86; Heart Disease, 36; Rheumatism, 24;
Chest Complaints, 46; Anaemia, 39; Malnutrition, 1;
Nervousness, 25.
A total of 22 beds are retained at St. Catherine's Home,
Ventnor; 10 for observation or pre-tubercular cases, referred by
the Tuberculosis Officer and 12 for other cases. The reserved beds
at Hawkenbury have been very valuable, and of 8 cases sent, 6
have been from the Rheumatism Clinic. A total of 72 children
were sent to Convalescent Homes or Heart Homes from the
Rheumatism Clinic. The average length of stay in all homes has
been 17 weeks 5 days.
During the Autumn of 1933, it became apparent from the work
of the Invalid Children's Aid Association, that an unduly high
number of children from a particular street on one of your
Council's Housing areas had required medical treatment, and had
in fact, been recommended for Convalescent Home Treatment.
Thus, out of 72 houses in the street, 25 children from 18
addresses have been under the care of the Association since the
houses were built about 6 years ago.
Of these, five cases had occurred up to 1930, and another five
between 1930 and 1932. These figures can broadly be regarded
as the average requirement of this particular area for Convalescent
Home Treatment.
Up to October, 1933, however, 14 cases had occurred, and
obviously this extremely high incidence required some explanation.