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requests made by family doctors for admission to hospital, and
with particular reference to social grounds. The need for special
laundry facilities for the incontinent became apparent, and a scheme
is now under consideration. More time was also devoted in
investigating and advising on the medical aspects of re-housing
applications.
At the end of the year Chingford Hospital, formerly the
"Sanatorium," became a "General" Hospital, thus ending over
fifty years' fine service to the Borough as a hospital for infectious
diseases.
The work of the sanitary inspectorate again continued on the
high level of previous years.
Turning to the Part III Services administered by the Walthamstow
Health Area Sub-Committee, two capital building projects
were considered and approved—a Health Services Clinic at Priory
Court and an extension to the District Nurses' Training Home.
The General and the Priority Dental Services were well maintained
and included the recruitment of an additional dental surgeon
and a part-time dental hygienist. The dental workshop was
employed about equally on work for the Priority and the General
Dental Services, and these facilities were made available to the
Hospital Service and to the Leyton Committee for Education.
The arrangements for pre-school child guidance continued
with success.
In spite of pronouncements in various quarters suggesting the
demise of the child welfare centres 88% of infants under one year
attended the centres, and each infant made over 17 attendances
during the year.
District midwifery and maternity cases fell from 440 in 1951
to 348 in 1952, but "district" or home nursing rose from 1,621
new cases and 51,798 attendances in 1951 to 1,671 new cases and
59,166 visits in 1952. The average number of visits per equivalent
whole-time nurse was 3,698. The percentage of mothers given gas
and air analgesia on the district was nearly 70. The services were
improved by the opening of the Branch Nurses' Home at " Hillcrest,"
Highams Park, in April. A scheme for the extension of
the main Nurses' Home at Carisbrooke Road was approved at an
estimated cost of approximately £3,500.
Health Visiting Staffing was reasonably adequate, but the
establishment was not fully maintained. Particular difficulty continued
in regard to the recruitment of tuberculosis health visitors.
An increasing amount of time of the health visitors was needed for
the care of the aged and chronic sick, and in regard to the
multiplicity of investigations now required.