[Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, Wakefield City.

  • Wakefield (England). City Council.
Date:
1962
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, Wakefield City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Relaxation and Mothercraft Classes The practice, commenced in 1960, of using the branch clinics instead of concentrating the activities at the Pricnipal Clinic, con¬ tinued with a remarkable success during 1962. Mrs. R. Jones, Physiotherapist, attended all four Centres at which ante-natal clinics were held for the purpose of conducting relaxation classes for expectant mothers. A total of 146 expectant mothers as com¬ pared with 111 in 1961 attended the Clinic on 811 occasions, and a further 66 attendances were made by others. The Health Visitors at the Margaret Street and Snapethorpe Clinics attended their clinics on the same afternoon as relaxation classes are held for the purpose of giving instruction in mother- craft. This takes the form of film strip shows and discussions on various aspects of mothercraft with particular emphasis on the relationship between the Health Visitor and Midwife so as to build up the confidence of the expectant mother in the public health team. Ante-natal clinics and relaxation classes with mothercraft classes where these take place are as follows: Centre Clinic Day Time The Cliffe, Ante-Natal Friday Fortnightly 2-4 Margaret Street Relaxation & M’craft Friday Weekly 2-4 Hall Road, Ante-Natal Friday Fortnightly 2-4 Snapethorpe Relaxation & M’craft Tuesday Weekly 2-4 68 Batley Road Ante-Natal Friday Fortnightly 2-4 Kettlethorpe Ante-Natal Wednesday Fortnightly 2-4 Community Centre Relaxation Monday Weekly 2-4 Child Welfare Clinics In my view the City’s population is reasonably well served by child welfare clinics. Infant welfare clinics are held twice weekly at the Principal Child Welfare Centre, and weekly clinics take place at five other centres situated in the outlying parts of the City. The Health Committee has always been alive to the need of having clinics situated where the masses of population live, and as long ago as 1920 the number of clinics in the City was six. There are those who question the value of child welfare clinics. Some consider that large attendances are used merely as a reason by mothers to obtain national dried milk and proprietary branded baby foods at a cheaper rate than they can be purchased in chemists’ shops. So far as the City’s clinics are concerned National Dried Milk is freely available ,but the range of other baby foods is