[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wembley].

  • Wembley (London, England). Municipal Borough.
Date:
[1948]
Catalogue details

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

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wembley]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    scale. In 1937 only those families who came within the Council's free scale were considered for this service; extension has now been made to include all income groups. During 1947, Home Helps were supplied in 164 maternity eases, compared with 27 in 1938 (the first complete year); 5 are full-time staff, 7 others, not wishing to work full-time, act as Home Helps in one or two cases per month and are paid only for the weeks during which they are at work. The provision of white overalls to be worn in the homes, improves the standard of hygiene and adds dignity to the work, whilst also protecting the Home Help's personal cloth ing. Supervision is exercised by the Health Visitors who eall at the home during the time the Home Help is in attendance. The organisation of this service is attended with considerable difficulties, some almost impossible to overcome these days. Among the latter the question of exactly when the baby will arrive, confronts all who handle maternity services. On some days late babies and early babies arrive almost together. At times the Home Helps are usefully employed in the Council's Day Nurseries whilst waiting for their services to ;be required. Another unavoidable difficulty causing disappointment occurs when a Home Help falls ill, but this fortunately is infrequent. Change of plans, miscarriage, admission to hospital, etc., may all occur after early application for the Home Help has been made, and if the appropriate cancellation be delayed disorganisation in the service is inevitable. On the whole the Home Helps are warmly greeted and a high degree of satisfaction is evident from the many letters of thanks received in respect of their services. 10. INFANT DEATHS. During 1947 the total number of Wembley children who died without reaching their first birthday was 53, and, of this number, 38 did not survive the first month of life. Despite the comparatively low infant death rate of 26 per 1,000 registered births published in respect of Wembley for 1946, Dr. Morison, the late Medical Officer, suggested at the end of that year that an enquiry regarding the social conditions of each case of infant death might be undertaken, with a view to exploring the possibility of the existence of any factor affecting the cause of infant deaths. A special visit was therefore made by the Health Visitor for the district, to parents who had suffered the loss of a young child under twelve months of age during 1947. An attempt was therefoy made to ascertain whether special care or further health education regarding personal hygiene was indicated in any case, or if greater knowledge of preventive measures should be 23