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86
A quarterly meeting is held at the Public Health Offices, where representatives
attend from the voluntary infant welfare centres, day nurseries
and ante-natal clinics. This is known as the Stepney Federation of Infant
Welfare Centres. At these meetings many matters are discussed connected
with centres, health visiting, etc. In this way close co-operation is assured
between the many different agencies in the Borough.
To resume the account of the Health Visitors work, after she has visited
the mother and told her which centre serves that district, the health visitor
sends a card to the centre which the mother should attend. If it is a voluntary
centre the voluntary health visitor encourages the mother to attend that
centre and she looks after the mother in exactly the same way as do the
municipal health visitors.
As regard the work of each centre, I should like to repeat that whether
voluntary or municipal, the centres are run on exactly the same lines with
a doctor and trained health visitors in attendance.
Should a mother be unable to attend a centre regularly, the health
visitor pays frequent visits to the house.
Every health visitor in the Borough has a system of card indexing on
which full details are written up of every visit she makes.
Babies under 12 months are visited 4 times at least in the first year and
twice a year afterwards until they reach the age of 5 years, when they go
to school. Should the child need special supervision, the health visitor calls
more frequently to the house. She advises the mother on hospital treatment,
simple diet and so on. In addition to the routine ante-natal visiting, we do
a great deal of ante-natal visiting for the London Hospital.
Patients are recommended to the Maternity Beds at the local hospitals
and they are urged to seek the ante-natal advice in every case.
Under the Puerperal Fever and Puerperal Pyrexia Regulations, 1926,
investigations are made as to the cause of infection, the home conditions and
general arrangement of the case. Where a mother dies from causes directly
connected with child-birth we have arrangements with Dr. Christie Brown
of the London Hospital who makes special investigations into such cases.