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29
combine Victorian grimness with olive green dados. We anticipate
that some of these buildings will be made superfluous
when new clinics are built but it appears that for some considerable
time work will have to be done with young children
in substandard premises in which lighting and heating are of
a 'background' variety. (Appendix 8)
Toddlers' Clinics are already held at the more modern
centres but as mentioned later in this report, they should
really be held in connection with all the infant welfare centres.
Over 9,000 infants and children from birth till pre-school
age were examined last year and an indication of the popularity
of the clinics is shown by the fact that four babies out of
five born in 1966 in Redbridge attended them.
Other activities at the Clinics include Health Education
carried out both personally and in groups, ante- and post-natal
sessions, and relaxation classes for women run in conjunction
with the maternity clinics. These relaxation classes are supervised
by our Health Visitors and it is hoped that next year will
see their techniques in this branch of ante-natal care made
more effective by attendance at courses run by Miss Erna
Wright.
Births
In 1966 there were 3891 live births in the Borough and the
illegitimacy rate was 6.5%. Close liaison exists with all
midwives and maternity units in the area for the immediate
notification of all births where some form of congenital abnormality
is present or is suspected. Arrangements are made for
the follow up of these cases by Health Visitors, or by direct
approach to the Paediatrician in charge of the case so that full
details can be forwarded to the Registrar General or in the
case of residents outside the Borough to the responsible
Health Authority.
67 such cases were reported in 1966, details of which are
given in Appendix 9.
Children at
Risk
1966 was the first full year of the operation of the Observation
Register. There have been inevitable teething troubles
in such a project and we are concerned at present with the
evaluation of criteria which puts a child "At Risk". The number
of children on this register exceed 30% of the births and if this
proportion continues it may well make the register unwieldy
and difficult to operate.
Dr. Joan M. Pooley, who has given a great deal of time to
this scheme, reports.