128 ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION 



number, preventive measures limited to the first year 

 are unlikely to have much influence in warding off 

 these later troubles. In a word, a gap, at present 

 unbridged, stretches from the first year, when the 

 activities of the infant consultation come to an end, 

 to the fifth, when the school medical inspection 

 begins. 



How, then, is the medical supervision of children 

 under school age to be dealt with in present circum- 

 stances ? Perhaps the most practical answer I can 

 offer to this question is to submit for your considera- 

 tion and discussion the plan adopted in this City of 

 Westminster. Some two years ago the Westminster 

 Health Society prepared a scheme for the medical 

 supervision of these children, and in January, 1912, 

 opened a Medical Inspection Centre for children 

 under school age to serve the population in the north 

 half of the City. The lines on which the Centre is 

 conducted can be briefly summarized. With the 

 co-operation of the Public Health Authorities, inform- 

 ation is received of all births recorded under the 

 Notification of Births Act, and, with the help of a 

 staff of health visitors, the Society at once gets into 

 touch with every family where a child is newly born. 

 The mother, as soon as she is about again, is invited 

 to the Centre with her baby, who, after being 

 undressed and weighed, is medically examined. In 

 most cases the child is found to be healthy, but, at 

 the same time, the opportunity is taken to enquire 

 closely into the conditions of its daily life, especially 

 with regard to feeding, cleanliness and clothing ; and 

 the mother, if at fault in her methods, is advised or 

 shown how to improve them. On the few occasions 

 when an infant is physically defective, and the condi- 

 tion is remediable, arrangements are made for suitable 

 treatment either by a medical practitioner, or at a 

 hospital or dispensary ; in some cases convalescent 

 treatment is secured by the help of other agencies ; 



