[Report 1937] / Medical Officer of Health, Middlesex County Council.

  • Middlesex (England). County Council. n 99020326.
Date:
1937
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1937] / Medical Officer of Health, Middlesex County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    53/230 page 41
    Mention has been made in a previous Annual Report of the recent policy adopted by the Middlesex Education Committee of erecting new premises for joint use as school clinics and welfare centres. The first two of these new “ health centres ” made their appearance in 1937, one at Long Lane, North Hillingdon being opened in April and a second at Ruislip Manor in November. These centres took the place of others which had been held in local halls, which with the growth of numbers in attendance had become unsatisfactory. The transfer of the welfare centre functions to new and specially designed premises has added much to the efficiency and to the pleasure of the service in the districts concerned. At each centre two weekly infant welfare sessions and a fortnightly ante-natal clinic were in operation at the end of the year. The welfare centre held at the Church Hall, Eastcote, was moved to new premises in April when Eastcote House, the property of the Ruislip-Northwood District Council, was made available for this purpose. An additional session was found to be necessary at Central Hillingdon and this centre has been open twice weekly since January. Considerable increase has taken place in the ante-natal services provided by the Council. The inauguration of a salaried service of midwives made it imperative for suitable supervision to be given to their patients. Arrangements exist at all the Council’s welfare centres for the medical examination of such cases, and, in addition, thirteen ad hoc ante-natal clinics were available at the beginning of 1937. During the year, four new clinics were opened at Stanwell, North Hillingdon, Ruislip Manor and Botwell, and additional sessions held at existing clinics, so that by the end of the year no clinic was open less often than twice a month, and at all busy centres weekly sessions were arranged. The Council approved the inauguration of midwives’ clinics, attended by health visitors and midwives only for the purpose of exercising supervision over normal cases, the women concerned being referred for two or more examinations by one of the Council’s medical staff during the course of their preg¬ nancies. Such arrangements ensure that the ante-natal examination of pregnant women by the Coun¬ cil’s midwives is carried out in suitable premises, relieves the midwives of much home visiting and enables some measure of observation to be kept upon the methods of ante-natal examination practised by them. No midwives’ clinics were started by the end of the year, but arrangements were in progress for their inauguration. The arrangements whereby ante-natal cases, considered by medical officers in charge of the ante¬ natal clinics to present points of clinical difficulty, are referred for an opinion to obstetrical surgeons on the staff of the Council’s general hospitals is working very well, and the women so referred appreciate the convenience of attending a consultative clinic within reasonable distance of their homes and the ease with which admission to hospital for confinement can be arranged in those cases where it is thought advisable. Equally satisfactory has been the scheme whereby women booked for admission to any of the Council’s general hospitals are kept under routine supervision at the local ante-natal clinics, thereby saving the women many journeys to hospital, and bringing them in contact with the centre at which they will attend with their infants after delivery. The scheme for the provision of fresh or dried milk to expectant and nursing mothers and children under the age of five has been amended by the removal of certain limitations which were previously placed upon the issue of milk from welfare centres. Upon the recommendation of the medical officer, milk is now supplied in necessitous cases to :— (а) Nursing mothers for a period of three months after confinement, or While actually suckling their children. This provides for mothers suffering from post-partum debility and unable to suckle their children. (б) Expectant mothers at any time during the course of pregnancy. (c) Children up to five years of age. With regard to the amounts to be issued the following maximum scale is authorized For infants under two months of age—one pint of fresh milk per day or one pound of dried milk per week. For children over two months of age and expectant and nursing mothers two pints per day of fresh, or two pounds per week of dried milk. Cod or halibut liver oil, cod liver oil and malt, &c., are also issued, the amount prescribed being left to the discretion of the medical officer of the centre. The increase in the amount of milk authorized brings the County’s scheme into line with the suggestions made in the report of the Advisory Committee on Nutrition to which the Ministry of Health drew the attention of Local Authorities in Circular 1519. The Advisory Committee recom¬ mended that the “ average daily consumption of milk per head should be about two pints for expectant and nursing mothers and from one to two pints for children.’
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