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40
King Mothercraft Centre at Walton Street, Chelsea,
for convenience or for other reasons.
Maternity and Child Welfare Centres.
There are three Maternity and Child Welfare
Centres in Fulham distributed over the Borough at
90-92, Greyhound Road, 170, Wandsworth Bridge
Road and Melmoth Hall, Eustace Road.
In addition to my own full-time service, Dr.
G. F. Hardy, Assistant Tuberculosis Officer, took
certain Clinics each week until 31st December, and
there were three part-time medical officers (Dr.
Florence Wilson, Dr. Lily Butler and Dr. Dorothy
Leverkus), until 1st September, when Dr. Catharine
Ross was appointed as Assistant Medical Officer in
the Maternity and Child Welfare Department.
Two special Toddlers' Clinics were carried on until
1st September but, after experience of these for several
years, we realised that they were not a success in
Fulham, and that mothers, as a rule, prefer to attend
at clinics with their whole family together. It was
decided that it was not worth while running special
clinics for the very small number of mothers who
were unwilling to attend the ordinary centres, and the
Toddlers' Clinics were discontinued. It is certainly
more satisfactory to consider the mother and her whole
family under five years of age together, at least so
far as public health work is concerned.
The supervision of the nursing mother is a most
important part of the work. Without strict attention
to this point, much of the edifice built by the Maternity
and Child Welfare Department must fall to the ground.
The economic and environmental conditions of the
mother influence, to a great extent, the well-being of
her family, and medical officers doing this work require
always to keep in mind this social side of the work when
dealing with the medical aspect. This cannot be too
strongly emphasised. The mental care of the mother