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46
Road. Another difficulty that arises at the four hired premises
is the need for storing away equipment and records at the end of
the day so as to avoid interference with the other activities carried
on in the premises.
It is probable that a considerable increase in the population of
the Borough will result from the erection by the London County
Council of several housing estates in the Borough, and it must be
remembered that these additional residents will be drawn from
overcrowded slum areas in this and neighbouring districts, persons
having the greatest need for efficient and well-equipped maternity
and child welfare centres. The additional population (approximately
17,500) is equal to that of many well-known urban districts
such as Dorking or Tonbridge.
Consideration of the circumstances has led the Maternity and
Child Welfare Committee to the conclusion that the time has arrived
when the present centres held in hired halls should be replaced with
specially-constructed and fully-equipped centres. The work carried
out from the old centres has helped to lower the Infantile Mortality
Rate by 50 per cent, during the past fifteen years but the time has
come for an improvement in the facilities provided for this work.
The Council accordingly acquired the premises at No. 136, Richmond
Road, at a cost including surveyors' fees of £1,925, and a twostorey
building is being erected upon the site at a cost of £8,649,
furniture and equipment being provided at a cost of £1,423. The
plans and photographs of this building are reproduced overleaf.
The accommodation to be provided comprises:—
Ground Floor.
Ante-natal: waiting room, dressing cubicles, consulting and examination
room.
Child welfare: waiting room, weighing room, medical examination
waiting room, consulting and examination room.
Other accommodation: isolation room, dispensary, lecture and
demonstration hall with projector room, perambulator store,
kitchen, adult and junior lavatory accommodation, store room.
First Floor.
Dental treatment: waiting room, surgery, recovery room.
Light treatment: waiting room, treatment room.
Breast feeding : instruction room.
Other accommodation: office, kitchen, bathroom, patients' lavatory
accommodation, staff lavatory accommodation.
This Centre, which it is hoped will be opened in April, 1937,
will replace that now carried on at the Wesley an Chapel Schools,
Mayfield Road, and the following is a comparison of the sessions