[Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough.

  • Smethwick (Worcestershire, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/70 (page 7)
    etc., where the disease might easily be spread. Cases of diphtheria, on the other hand, should always be treated in hospital owing to the powerfully selective action of the toxin of the disease on the heart, and the need, there¬ fore, for skilled nursing. As regards measles, this disease is most infectious during the first day or two, and those exposed to infection are usually infected before the rash is out or the disease diagnosed. Hospital provision, therefore, will do little to reduce the actual incidence of the disease, and mild cases should not be sent to hospital unless there are other circumstances which render this desirable. Such circumstances would be bad home conditions, lack of nursing facilities or food, careless parents, or debility of the patient. Severe cases, however, should be sent to hospital, because of the danger of death from complications—a danger by no means remote. The necessity of providing special provision for such diseases in the infectious diseases hospital becomes more acute now that the duties of pro¬ viding institutional relief for cases requiring it devolves on the Council as from April 1st, 1930. The whole question of institutional accommodation for all types of in¬ fectious diseases is one which should receive the early consideration of the Council, and extensions to the Hospital at Holly Lane are now urgently required. Maternity and Child Welfare. The Council’s scheme for Maternity and Child Welfare has been extended during the year by the opening of two new Infant Welfare Centres, the provision of an additional ante-natal session, making four weekly, and the institution of a scheme for examining “ toddlers ” at the age of four as a routine. A scheme was also inauguarated by which expectant mothers could, by the payment of a fee of 5s. before the seventh month of pregnancy insure themselves against possibly having to pay for the services of a doctor, should it be necessary for the midwife to call one in emergency at the time of confine¬ ment. The effect of this has been, in my opinion, to secure to the mother a better standard of midwifery, and as such is a move in the right direction. It is not expected that the scheme will be a success from an actuarial point of view. The routine examination of “ toddlers ” at the age of four years has revealed that a very considerable amount of good can be done by such examinations, and that a large proportion of these children suffer from minor ailments, which can be easily cured. The results should be to send to the schools better and healthier children. The first of the two new Infant Welfare Clinics to be opened in 1929, is situated at St. Chad’s Church Hall in Shireland Road, in the middle of a populous district, and is the first of our Welfare Clinics to be opened for a morning session. While the attendances are satisfactory, the experiment seems to show that there is little doubt that the afternoon clinics are more popular with the mothers than morning clinics. The other Infant Welfare Clinic was started at St. Mark’s, Londonderry, and is an afternoon session. It is situated in the centre of the new housing