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

Heston and Isleworth 1933

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Heston and Isleworth]

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Table: The attendances of children at all the Centres during the last six years have been as follows:—

The attendances of children at all the Centres during the last six years have been as follows:—

Year.No of attendances.Year.No. of attendances.
192816,625193127,318
192917,667193231,656
193019,222193335,110
It will be seen that the attendances have more than doubled in the last six years. The average attendances per session during the year 1933 were as follows:—
At Douglas Road Centre79.0
At Clipstone House, Bath Road, Centre69.8
At Isleworth Centre70.0
At Heston Centre68.6

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Approximately 74.2 per cent of the notified live births attend at one of the Infant
Welfare Centres before they are a year old, an increase of 3 per cent over last year's figure.
Clipstone House has a delightful garden, one section of which is well wooded adjoining the
Clinic, and in the very hot weather the Infant Welfare Clinic was held in the trees in the open, as the
Waiting Room and Consultation Room was so insufferably hot by reason of the fact that both of them
faced full south with the sun pouring on them.
These alfresco Clinics were a great success.
The accompanying photograph was taken on one of those afternoons in question.

Table: The number of individual mothers and children attending t he Clinics is shown hereunder:— Douglas Road, Hounslow—

The number of individual mothers and children attending t he Clinics is shown hereunder:— Douglas Road, Hounslow—

19291930193119321933
Mothers73386810871085860
Children914946123217411078
Clipstone House, Bath Road, Hounslow—
Mothers———132467
Children———153557
Isleworth Public Hall—
Mothers367458578690685
Children452522757763824
Heston—
Mothers212305392451435
Children253355478534550

Table: Sales at Clinics.

Sales at Clinics.

Quantity.Receipts.
£s.d.
Cow and Gate9895lbs.67977
Half-Cream Cow and Gate1069lbs.7386
Ostermilk820lbs.6054
Hemolac31lbs.256
Lacidac309packets.3239
Virol598£lbs.4592
Sugar of milk282lbs.1750
Oil and Malt389lbs.13109
Lactagol947tins.52148
Cod Liver Oil Emulsion7273bottles.222148
Bemax351packets.763
Adexolin90phials.8010
Total£1214 120

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Ante-Natal Clinic.—The Clinic is held at 92, Bath Road, Hounslow every Wednesday morning.
There has, in years gone by, been a section of the general practitioners who disclaim loudly
against the Public Health Departments and the various Clinics, and the Ante-Natal Clinic in particular.
It is as well that the general practitioners should realise that much of the present state of affairs is
due to the general practitioners themselves.
To quote a case which appeared at the Clinic, the child had a sterno mastoid haematoma as
a result of certain amount of difficulty with the after-coming head of a breech presentation. The
mother volunteered the following statement with regard to the child. When she was about five
months pregnant she went to the Doctor who had succeeded to the practice of her original practitioner.
He booked the confinement but made no attempt to arrange for any ante-natal supervision
whatever. Being dissatisfied with this, she appeared at the Ante-Natal Clinic where she was seen,
but referred to her own Doctor. As she had been dissatisfied with the first Doctor, she refused to
go back to him, but consulted a second practitioner. He also booked the confinement but again
made no attempt to arrange for any Ante-Natal supervision, to the mother's intense annoyance.
She went elsewhere. The reason for her annoyance was that the original practitioner who had left
the district and who had attended her when her first child was born, arranged that if everything went
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