London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Erith 1943
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Erith]
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B.5. MATERNITY SERVICES
B.5 (A) Hainault.
Confinement of the expectant mother either in hospital or
Maternity Hone has found favour with an increasing number of women.
It is Gratifying to again record for the third year in succession an
increase in the accommodation at the Borough Maternity Hone. It
now contains lb beds, and with the annex since July six additional
ante-natal beds and the number of 293 confinements is naturally a
record increase.
The staff consists of one Matron, one sister, two staff nurse
midwives, and three midwives.
Institutional treatment for normal cases is provided, and
during the period under review 293 cases were admitted. Of these
196 cases were delivered by midwives and 95 by doctors. The
average duration of stay of these cases was 13 days.
In my view admission to hospital for confinement should be
arranged through the Ante-Natal clinic, with the co-operation of
the private practitioners, and the consultant obstetrician would
thus be freely available to both domiciliary and institutional cases.
The following table shows.the admission for the past seven years:-
| Year | Admissioins | No: of beds. |
|---|---|---|
| 1937 | 134 | 7 |
| 1938 | 116 | 7 |
| 1939 | 118 | 7 |
| 1940 | 118 | 7 |
| 1941 | 143 | 9 |
| 1942 | 215 | 12 |
| 1943 | 293 | 22 |
B. (5) b. Ante-natal
This only commenced in September but the attendance figures s illustrated in the following table are most encouraging
| Ante-natal patients seen by Doctor. | Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May | June | July | Aug. | Sept. | oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erith | 65 | 83 | 91 | 82 | 62 | 76 | 98 | 77 | 183 | 165 | 172 | 142 | 1296 |
| Bedonwell | 158 | 132 | 145 | 168 | 182 | 166 | 198 | 119 | 188 | 173 | 124 | 159 | 1912 |
| Picardy | 51 | 59 | 66 | 56 | 56 | 58 | 67 | 52 | 71 | 59 | | 85 | 40 | 720 |
| Total | 3928 | ||||||||||||
B.5 (c ) Abnormal Cases.
Accormmodation for abnormal maternity cases in need of hospital
treatment is provided by arrangements between this Council and London
/Hospitals