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the service will depend to a large extent on how local authorities develop it.
It will be seen in the report that the maternal mortality rate rose during 1936.
I do not think any special significance attaches to this rise for reasons which
I have given in the report.
The year also saw the introduction of three additional services in
connection with the health of mothers and children. The first of these was
the institution of mothercraft sessions which were started in February. The
second was the commencement of the diphtheria immunisation clinic which
started in March and which has so far been quite successful. In spite, however,
of a considerable amount of publicity the difficulty is found, as it has been
found in other local authorities, in getting parents to bring their children to
the clinic at times when there is no diphtheria in the district. The tendency
is to wait until the danger is upon us, and this short-sighted policy may of
course have serious results. The third new service was that of the institution
of special toddlers Clinics. Children under five years of age may still attend
the ordinary infant welfare clinics but at certain ages (18 months and subsequent
anniversaries of their birthdays) they are invited to attend a special clinic where
they can have a full routine medical inspection and where also the general
health of the child can be discussed with the parent and any necessary treatment
instituted. The percentage of children entering school at the age of live and
found to be suffering from physical defect, whether slight or severe, is extremely
high and the aim of pre-school medical inspection is to get these children at
a stage when the deviation from the normal is slight and can be more easily
and painlessly treated.
During the year the Council applied to the Ministry of Health for the
delegation of powers under the Midwives Act from the County Council to
themselves and were backed up in this by the County Council. Unfortunately
the total number of births in the district attended by midwives did not reach
the arbitrary number which the Minister has apparently laid down before such
delegation can occur. However, it is understood that the County Council are
suggesting that under the Midwives Act 1936 the Borough Council shall be
made their agents for the purposes of the Act and, therefore, there will be a
de facto supervision of midwives by ourselves.
It is still hoped that the proposed new Branch Centre will be erected
and will be available for use during part of 1937.
There was a spate of new legislation affecting the activities of the health
department during the year. The most important acts passed were the Public
Health Act 1936 and the Housing Act 1930. The Public Health Act which
comes into operation on October 1st 1937 is one of a series of acts which will
consolidate and codify matters dealing with public health. The Bill was
produced on the recommendation of the Local Government and Public Health
Consolidation Committee. This Committee issued its first interim report in
March 1933 and this was followed by the introduction of a Local Government
Bill which became the Local Government Act 1933. The Committee having
decided that the rest of public health law can be conveniently divided into
some nine heads, it was thought that, as a bill to cover the whole group would
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