The Work of Maternity and Infant Welfare Centres
1926-01 1926 1920s 7 pages - 3 - (121b) Up to March 1925 there were 1356 Municipal Centres and 756 Voluntary Centres, (though practically all voluntary centres have some degree of municipal help.) As to these public grants, in the 6th Annual Report of the Ministry of Health for 1924-5, approximatel...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
January 1926
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/633703B2-6592-4224-AC64-3FAF3CA17B2E http://hdl.handle.net/10796/FAF30E87-583D-4675-B095-E50670754A68 |
| Summary: | 1926-01
1926
1920s
7 pages
- 3 - (121b) Up to March 1925 there were 1356 Municipal Centres and 756 Voluntary Centres, (though practically all voluntary centres have some degree of municipal help.) As to these public grants, in the 6th Annual Report of the Ministry of Health for 1924-5, approximately £128,370 is the annual net expenditure of Local Authorities on the Centres, half of which is repaid from the Exchequer. The Exchequer grant direct to voluntary organisations is given as £52,551 representing half their net expenditure. Thus it will be seen that grants to all Centres from the Exchequer reach the sum of about £116,750, and this includes some equipment grant when new centres are opened. For a great nation, it is a pitiful sum to spend on such urgent work. The chief need at present is undoubtedly more centres, with suitable places to work in, and more Health Visitors. In too many cases the organising committees have to depend on the loan or rental of institutional halls and buildings, often ill-adapted for the necessary routine. Local authorities should be encouraged to acquire or build suitable premises for Infant Welfare Centres wherever possible. These need not be large or expensively equipped, but must be homely and bright, easily warmed and ventilated and sufficiently numerous to prevent any mother coming a long distance. Such centres should form an important unit of the Treatment Centres recommended in "Preventive and Curative Medical Services" - a statement of the Labour policy with regard to Health. About 50 babies and mothers are sufficient for one afternoon's work, but many centres are much over-crowded, and so individual attention cannot be efficiently given. Yet the Ministry of Health, notably in 1921, ran an economy stunt which impaired expansion, and also cut down the supply of free milk to needy children, and far from encouraging local bodies to go forward, it restricted their good-will. There are indications lately that we are on the verge of more "economy"!
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |