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90
Child Welfare Centres.
In the Borough of Hackney with its population of nearly a
quarter of a million and a number of births averaging 5,000
annually, and containing over 100 miles of streets there are seven
Welfare Centres (including one branch Centre at which a doctor
does not attend), and at these Centres eleven weekly Welfare
Clinics are held.
At Hackney two of the Ante-natal Centres are only in use on
alternate weeks, and of the 11 Welfare Clinics a doctor is only
in attendance at seven.
It is interesting to note in the 1922 Report of the Chief
Medical Officer to the. Ministry of Health these two paragraphs
...
46. "Unfortunately, no similar improvement can be
observed in the maternal mortality rate which, though some
diminution has occurred in the relative number of deaths
from puerperal sepsis, remains now as high as it was in the
beginning of the century for 'accidents ' and other causes
of death from child-birth. It is generally recognised that
many of these deaths are preventable, and given adequate and
skilled professional care a large proportion of them should
not occur."
47. "The most successful results of maternity and child
welfare work are thus seen in the improvement of the health
of infants under one or two years of age. The care of the
mother before and at the time of child-birth, and the care of
the little child, say, from two years up to school age, have
not been developed to anything like the same extent. This
is largely due in the case of the mother to difficulties inherent
in any general attempt to exercise supervision over the
health of the pregnant woman, but it is also due to financial
considerations which have prevented the maturing of schemes
for ante-natal work. The supervision of children below
school age has also been hampered through lack of staff and
lack of accommodation."