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
Chelsea 1914
Annual report for 1914 of the Medical Officer of Health
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| Notification of Births, 1914. | Number. | |
|---|---|---|
| Living Children | 1087 | |
| Still-born Children | 35 | |
| 1122 | ||
| Notified by Medical Practitioners | 329 | |
| „ St. George's Hospital | 140 | |
| „ Midwives— | ||
| Private Practice | 330 | |
| Institutional | 180 | |
| 510 | ||
| „ Chelsea Workhouse | 42 | |
| „ Parents | 76 | |
| „ Westminster Infirmary | 34 | |
| 1131 | ||
| Dual Notifications—deduct | 9 | |
| 1122 | ||
| Total number of births registered | 1273 |
From the above Table it will appear that the notifications under the
1907 Act fell short of the registrations by the number of 151. In 1913 the
discrepancy was 127, and in 1912, 203.
The total number of births registered in 1914 which actually belonged
to Chelsea was 1217, so that the actual discrepancy between notifications
and births of parishioners registered in Chelsea in 1914 was only 95.
The following are the records of births of Chelsea children which occurred in outside institutions in 1914. :—
| Queen Charlotte's Hospital | 32 |
| General Lying-in Hospital | 20 |
| Clapham Maternity Hospital | 17 |
| Middlesex Hospital | 4 |
| St. Thomas's Hospital | 2 |
| City of London Lying-in Hospital | 2 |
| St. Bartholomew's Hospital | 1 |
| 78 |
In proportion to the number of births, there was in 1914 a slight decrease
in notifications by medical practitioners, an increase in notifications by midwives,
and a large increase in notifications from St. George's Hospital extern
maternity department. The previous year there had been a decrease in
the St. George's Hospital notifications, which was attributed at the time
to the operation of the maternity benefit under the National Health Insurance
Act.