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23
Upon the notification of a birth, the Lady Sanitary Inspector has
visited all those cases where it was thought her advice would be of value,
and investigated the immediate surroundings of the infant, and advised
upon the best mode of feeding, where such advice seemed desirable.
The Returns of the Registrar have hitherto been practically the sole
source from which information of the occurrence of a birth could be
obtained, and as the period within which registration must take place is
six weeks, it will be readily understood that much valuable time elapses
before any effective steps can be taken. During the year 1905, 41 per
cent. of the total infantile deaths occurred in children under the age of
one month.
The Council have recently expressed their approval of proposals to
shorten the period in which a birth must be notified from 42 to 21 days
as in Scotland, and I quite agree with the suggestion, as the whole value
of our efforts depends on obtaining the earliest possible information of
the births.
In a number of cases we do not get the information early enough
to exercise any supervision, the infant succumbing before its birth is
notified, birth and death being sometimes registered together, and in some
instances notification of the child's death has been received before that
of its birth.
The London County Council have recently initiated an arrangement
by which they obtain early information of the births where a Midwife
only is in attendance, and these are promptly forwarded to the Medical
Officer of Health for the district.
Speaking at the recent meeting of the Society of Medical Officers of
Health, Sir Shirley Murphy, Medical Officer of Health of the London
County Council, said " that owing to the bonus of one shilling given to
Midwives, almost immediate knowledge of nearly a third of the children
born in the Metropolis was now obtainable."
This arrangement came into effect in the early part of November,
and since then up to the end of the year, the number thus notified to
Hampstead was 15. The arrangement appears to me an exceedingly
useful one, as it concerns, with rare exceptions, the poorest class, where
supervision of the environment of the newly-born by the Public Health
Department, is most likely to be beneficial.