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Premature Births—Circular 174/44.
Special provision including an air-conditioned room and incubators
exists at the St. Helier County Hospital for the care of
premature babies. These arrangements are under the supervision
of a paediatrician. Removal to the hospital is by ambulance equipped
with an electrically heated incubator. The number of premature
births notified during the year was 105. Of these 15 were born at
home and 90 in hospital. Further details of these premature infants
are as follows : —
The number of babies born at home—
(i) who were nursed entirely at home 13
(ii) who died during the first 24 hours 1
(iii) who survived at the end of one month 14
The number of those born in hospital—
(i) who died in the first 24 hours 4
(ii) who survived at the end of one month 77
The survival rate after one month for all premature babies was
86 per cent. These figures are in respect of all the births which
occurred in the district, mostly in the St. Helier Hospital, only a
proportion of which were Carshalton residents.
Routine Medical Inspection of Toddlers:—
Special Toddler Clinics were established at the Wrythe Lane and
Stanley Road Centres, and have since been extended to the Rochester
Road Centre. The aim is to secure an annual systematic medical overhaul
of toddlers in their 3rd, 4th and 5th years. These clinics were
suspended during the latter half of 1944 on account of difficulties
arising out of the war, but the normal programme was re-instated
at the beginning of 1945.
Considering the many claims on the mothers' time it is gratifying
to report that the parents of some 700 children accepted the appointments
given to them for this routine medical examination. The
number is greater than in the more leisured pre-war years, and is
the highest yet. Of 697 children examined 510 had some defect.
The number of defects observed was 815, for 437 of which treatment
was advised, and 377 observation. Apart from the fact that the
scope of these examinations is much more comprehensive than the
consultations at the weekly infant clinics, the usefulness of this
scheme is further indicated by the fact that 230 toddlers who were
examined had not attended the regular welfare sessions during the
year, and 31 had never previously attended a clinic at any time.
Experience shows that as an infant approaches the age of five its
attendances at the welfare clinic get progressively fewer, not infrequently
ceasing altogether after about 18 months. The mother feels
that her child has become less dependent upon her, and that her
problems are fewer. A child's feeding certainly becomes less specialised,
but its psychological needs assume considerable importance
during the early years of mental development.
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