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The percentage notified by parents was 18.0, by medical men
3.0, by midwives 13.0, and by others—chiefly students and professional
assistants from St. Bartholomew's Hospital, the Royal
Free Hospital, and the many medical charities in the districtwas
66 per cent.
The mothers included in this last percentage—66 per cent.—
are practically all attended in their confinements gratuitously.
This means that approximately 2,400 Finsbury mothers, or 2 out
of every 3, are looked after in child-birth and lying-in for no
fee whatever, chiefly by the students of the various hospitals.
This gratuitous treatment has other consequences—poor mothers
who lived in Tottenham and other outlying districts have been
known to break up their home and move bag and baggage into
Finsbury so as to be attended in childbirth without payment by
the students.
HEALTH VISITATION—INFANT BIRTHS.
In May, 1909, the Finsbury Borough Council appointed two
Lady Health Visitors, who, in conjunction with the Lady
Sanitary Inspector, were directed
1. To systematically visit the infant births in the poorer
streets.
2. To instruct the mothers, and especially young mothers
with first children, in the feeding and proper care of their
babies.
3. To carefully watch over the child's health and progress,
and to take the requisite steps by advice or reference
to medical or philanthropic agencies to safeguard the child's
prospects.
4. To improve the home conditions of the mothers—
domesticary by help, advice, and suggestion—hygienically
by referring defects of structure or environment to the Public
Health Department.
The scheme thus outlined has been continued and developed
in 1910. The Borough has been divided into two, and a separate
district assigned to each lady Health Visitor.