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at which totalled 715 (In addition there were
one hundred and twenty eight attendances at
Brentford Health Centre at 43 sessions staffed
by obstetricians and midwives employed by
Queen Chalotte's Hospital).
One hundred and forty five sessions with
a midwife only in attendance were held, the
attendances at which totalled 633 At the
mothercraft and relaxation classes attendances
numbered 2,234, compared with 2,458
attendences made last year. Only 57 mothers
took advantage of our facilities for post-natal
examinations. The practice of undertaking
ante-natal care in the middle months of
pregnancy has continued for patients booked
at hospitals but referred back to us after
their initial visit to hospital
Child health clinics
The object of such clinic provision is the
promotion and preservation of health, the
early detection of disease or defect and the
amelioration of handicaps in children
During the year 1,454 sessions were held
at which 8,170 children made a total of
45,531 attendances but many other mothers
are now able to attend at similar sessions run
by an increasing number of general practitioners
in the borough to whose practices health
visitors are being attached
Welfare foods
National welfare foods and approved proprietary
preparations are stocked at child welfare
centres for sale, or it the need is proved for
free issue During the year £11,913 was
received for the sale of proprietary preparations
The quantities of national welfare foods
issued were
National dried milk (tins) 6,873
Orange juice (bottles) 62.583
Vitamin tablets (packets) 2.958
Cod liver oil (bottles) 2.358
Notification of congenital malformation apparent
at birth
52 infants were notified as having congenital
malformations. The largest group were the
15 infants with malformation of the central
nervous system or which 5 were anencephalics,
5 spinabifidas, 3 hydrocephalics and 2 had
unspecified central nervous system malformation
The incidence of spinabifida in the
borough for 1969 was 1 5/1,000 live births
and the incidence of anencephalus was also
1 5/1,000 live births but the latter are
incapable of separate existence The medical
officer of health is notified about babies
born with congenital malformations from the
hospital in which the mother is confined and
also by the midwives when the babies are
delivered at home Other sources of information
are the health visitors when they visit the
new babies at home and the clinic medical
officers after the first clinic attendance
Observation Register
Under arrangements inaugurated by the former
Middlesex County Council in 1961 a pilot
scheme was begun in this area and based
upon experience gained by 1965, the Borough
devised a comprehensive scheme whereby all
children, liable to present a handicap, born
to residents were kept under observation in
local child health clinics
Since the inception of the new register
in 1965 a iotal of 4,761 children have been
kept under observation for varying periods
In 1969 of the 3,375 children born to borough
residents 1,075 (32%) names were placed on
the observation register.
At 31st December 1969 2,667 children
were still being kept under observation.
Phenylketonuria
For the first 4 months of this year health
visitors carried out phenistix tests for
phenlyketonuria on babies at the age of
3-6 weeks From the 1st May. the screening
procedure for phenylketonuria was altered to
that of the Guthrie blood test, a much more
reliable method for the detection of
phenylketonuria than that of the phenistix
test. The Guthrie test however should be
carried out during the first 14 days of a baby's
life and it is therefore now done by midwives
whether in hospital or domiciliary practice
and by health visitors. Two babies were found
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