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Health Visiting.
In the previous year the steady increase in the number of clinics
had made serious in-roads into the time available to the visitors for
home visiting. Following the appointment of an additional Health
Visitor early in 1939, the Scheme had the benefit of the services of
5 full-time visitors. Consequently more time could again be devoted
to home visiting, and the number of visits increased to a level
approaching that for 1937. Details of the visits, excluding Child Life
Protection visits, are as follows:—
To expectant mothers—
First visits 145 —
Total visits — 319
To children under 1 year—
First visits 860 —
Total visits - 3776
To children 1-5 years—
Total visits — 6010
10105
" Assisted " Milk and Other Foods.
The assistance given in the form of milk and other special foods
was on much the same scale as previously. Although approximately
100 fewer individuals were assisted, the total quantity of food issued
was rather more than in 1938. Details are given in Table 15.
Dental Scheme.
As foreshadowed in the last Report, one of the most notable
features of the welfare service in 1939 was the great increase in the
activities of the Dental clinics. Following upon an extension of the
clinic programme from 38 sessions in 1938_to 81 in the year under
review, the dental work carried out under the scheme was more than
doubled.
One fact has special significance and reflects the increased attention
paid to dental conservation. Although more children received
treatment, the number of temporary teeth extracted was only 278,
compared with 452 in the year before, whereas the number of fillings
increased three times. This satisfactory feature is due, in no small
degree, to the cumulative effect of the operation of the scheme in
recent years and to education of the parents in the necessity for early
treatment at the first signs of dental disease.

Anaesthetics Gas. 144
Local 45
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