London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Tottenham 1940

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Tottenham]

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- 4 -
in Park Lane, before mentioned, opened on April 10th 1940 with
19 children. Dy May 20th, 50 children were on the register.
At this nursery the children enjoy conditions which are widely
felt to be almost ideal. During the year, the land made
available by the demolition of 129, Park Lane was acquired for
the nursery and further space for recreation and kitchen gardens
was provided. One of the special amenities of this nursery
is that the medical and clinic services available at the centre
are immediately available for the children and this facilitates
the provision of dental, ophthalmic and other services.
Particular mention should be made of the use that has been made
of the sunlight clinic. During the winter of 1940/41 all the
children were regularly given graduated doses of artificial
sunlight. This was reflected in the general well being of the
children and their satisfactory resistance to intercurrent
ailments.
Routine medical inspection was regularly carried out and
all the children have been immunised against diphtheria. There
is at present a large waiting list for the two nurseries before
mentioned.
(3) War-time Day Nurseries.
On the 25th September, 1940, a letter was received from
the Ministry of Health stressing the importance of taking all
necessary steps to facilitate the employment of female labour in
munition and other factories essential to the war effort by the
provision of one or more day nurseries for the children of
mothers so employed. An investigation into the need for such
wartime nurseries in Tottenham had shown that the matter was
one of urgency and immediate steps were taken to implement the
instructions received from the Ministry.
The authority of the Local Education Committee was,
therefore, obtained for the use of the premises in Vale Road,
Tottenham, of the evacuated Nursery School, for this purpose.
By the end of the year, the task of providing the necessary
equipment and staff was well advanced. An adequate air raid
shelter was erected and the nursery was opened early in 1941.
T0DDLERS CLINICS.
These were continued throughout 1940. In all, 52
medical sessions were held as compared with 51 in 1939 and
attendances numbered 486, as against 700 in 1939. A number of
toddlers were referred to the Eye Specialist, following routine
refraction examination.
(contd.)