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35.
members, 8 members of the Council and 4 women
selected from persons nominated by the Voluntary
Association. This Committee became a Standing Committee
of the Borough Council on 15th December, 1920.
A scheme for carrying out Maternity and Child
Welfare work in the Borough was adopted by the Council
on 5th February, 1919. The object of this scheme was
to extend and co-ordinate the Maternity and Child
Welfare work of the Council and that of the Voluntary
Agencies among which were the Maternity and Child
Welfare Centres referred to above, the Day Nursery
and the Babies Hospital. The work which was carried
out by the Voluntary Committee of the Centres formed
an important part of the Council's scheme. Under the
Council's scheme it was decided that the Council should
appoint a whole-time woman Assistant Medical Officer
of Health for Maternity and Child Welfare work and
Dr. Ruby Thomson commenced duty in that capacity on
30th June, 1919.
Previous to the appointment of Dr. Thomson, the
medical work at the Centres was done by part-time
medical officers who were appointed and paid by the
Voluntary Committee. The work of these part-time
medical officers was taken over by Dr. Thomson as part
of her duties. The Council's Health Visitors also acted
at the Clinics in addition to their other duties, and two
additional Health Visitors were appointed in 1919.
The Superintendent of the Centres and the Assistant
Superintendent were appointed and paid by the Voluntary
Committee.
Although the Borough Council have provided the
medical staff of the three Centres since the middle of
1919, and the services of the Council's Health Visitors
have been available at the Centres since that time, no
monetary grants were given to the Voluntary Committee
by the Council until the financial year 1922-23 when
the Council made a grant of £100. This was increased
to £375 for the year 1923-24 and since 1st April, 1924,
the Council grant was £500 per annum.