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68
Report of the Medical Officer of Health for 1931.
They are voluntary institutions, receiving grants from the
Borough Council. Children are admitted whose mothers are
obliged to go out to work, or who are ill, or who for any other
reasonable cause are unable to look after their children. The
parents' payments vary from (id. to Is. per day for one child, a
reduction being made when more than one child from the same
family is admitted, or when a child is admitted for half a day only.
The Putney, Wandsworth and Balham Day Nurseries are
also training schools for nurses who intend to take up creche
work. They are admitted as probationers and remain for about
a year, receiving practical and theoretical training. The matrons
give courses of lectures, which the probationers are bound to
attend, and an examination is held at the end of the course.
The attendances were:—Putney, 4,919; Balham, 5843;
Tooting, 5,754; and Wandsworth, 6,608; a total of 28,124.
compared with 28,157 in 1980.
77 inspections of the creches were made during the year
by the Health Visitors.
Institutions for Expectant and Nursing Mothers and
Young Children.
The Streatham Babies' Hospital, 9, Leigham Court Road,
Streatham, is for the treatment of infants up to the age of
five years. There are 20 cots, and the nursing staff consists
of Matron, a Sister, two Assistant Nurses and three Proba
turners. A Visiting Medical Officer attends daily. The parents
pay 10s. 6d. per week for their children, but necessitous cases
are admitted free, or at a reduced fee, according to circumstances.
Medical practitioners can recommend cases for admission
and attend them while in the Hospital.
89 infants were admitted in 1931, 35 from addresses in the
Borough, and 54 from outside the Borough. Most of the cases
were infants, suffering from Marasmus, Debility, and Respiratory
Diseases.
During the year £27 11s. 3d. was paid to SS. Peter and
Paul Home, Clapham, for treatment in respect of eight Borough
residents maintained in the Home.