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
Wimbledon 1931
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wimbledon]
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There are, in addition, a number of midwives acting purely
as maternity nurses in maternity homes in the district. Three
hundred and fifty-seven confinements were attended by the midwives
and one hundred and thirty-three by the maternity nurses.
In the latter cases, of course, doctors had been engaged by the
patients.
Three uncertified women were known to be attending confinements
in Wimbledon under the direction and supervision of
medical practitioners but by the end of the year they had all
ceased to do so.
The following notifications were received from midwives practising in the Borough:—
| Laying out the dead | 1 |
| Stillbirths | 5 |
| Artificial feeding | 1 |
| Liability to source of infection | 4 |
| Notification of death | 5 |
Medical Aid forms were received from midwives in one hundred
and one instances during the nine months which elapsed
after the administration of the Midwives Acts had been undertaken
by the Wimbleon Borough Council.
Nursing Homes Registration Act, 1927.
On 1st April, 1931, the Borough Council became responsible for the supervision of nursing homes in Wimbledon. At the end of the year there were eighteen registered nursing homes, namely:—
| Nursing Homes for Maternity Cases | 3 |
| Nursing Homes for Medical, Surgical and Maternity Cases | 3 |
| Nursing Homes for Children and Maternity Cases | 1 |
| Nursing Homes for Medical and Maternity Cases | 1 |
| Nursing Homes for Maternity and Chronic Cases | 1 |
| Nursing Homes for Chronic Cases | 9 |
| Total | 18 |