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Private Day Nurseries
16 with accommodation for 387 children
Child Minders
19 approved for the care of 120 children
The tendency has been to an increase in the total
number of children who are cared for in larger
groups in church halls etc., reflecting the public's
awareness of the need for the young child,
especially after his second birthday, to have play
facilities which permit as much mobility as possible
and to extend his environment beyond the home.
Regular visits are made by health visitors and
occasional visits by medical officers to inspect
premises and equipment, to verify the number of
children attending and to assess the general
standard of care. Almost all applicants for
registration under the above Act assume that they
are competent and suited to undertake the care of
young children. Unfortunately this is not always
so and medical officers need to spend much time,
tact and patience in dealing with each application
on its merits. The best of our child-minders
welcome advice and general support from
members of the department who are experts in
this field and, in turn, derive much satisfaction
from seeing the needs of the children being more
and more successfully met as the child-minder
increases her knowledge and gains in experience.
Child-minders are also encouraged to attend
appropriate lectures, to read suitable books, watch
certain television programmes and visit one of the
local authority day nurseries. Many organisations
and agencies are trying to meet the increasing
demand of the community for the provision of day
care for pre-school children, but there is an acute
shortage of such provision for short periods of the
day to broaden their horizons and stimulate their
development or for longer periods because the
mother finds it necessary to go to work. It is
almost certain that an increasing amount of time
will be spent by both medical officers and health
visitors on this section of their work in the years
that lie immediately ahead.
Unregistered Child Minders
Women undertaking the daily care of not more
than two children are not subject to formal
supervision, but health visitors try to keep some
watch on children placed with such unregistered
child minders. To encourage unregistered child
minders to accept some degree of supervision and
to bring the children to the child welfare clinic
once a month, the Council, subject to the minder
and the child's mother accepting and abiding by
the scheme, will pay the minder one shilling a day
for each child minded. So far this scheme has not
been popular, and at the end of the year only 4
unregistered child minders were participating.
Family Planning
Family planning advice and treatment is provided
by the Family Planning Association in the
Council's clinics. At the beginning of the year
twelve weekly sessions were being held at five
clinics and no charge was made for their use. A
weekly session was commenced at the new Heston
health centre so that by the end of the year the
total number of sessions was thirteen.
The Council accepts financial responsibility for
charges made by the Family Planning Association
in respect of patients referred to them by the
Council's medical officers where it was considered
that pregnancy would be detrimental to health.
The National Health Service (Family Planning)
Act 1967 received the Royal Assent on 28th June
1967. The Act removes the previous condition that
local authorities could give family planning advice
only on medical grounds and empowers the local
health authority to give family planning advice and
supply contraceptive substances or appliances to
all who seek this service. No action has been taken
by the Council because the subject is before the
Social Services Committee of the London
Boroughs Association who are concerned to find
an arrangement for implementing the Act in
conjunction with the Family Planning Association
which would be consistent throughout the London
Area.
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