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connection with maternity and child welfare work which the
Ministry have yet sanctioned.
Ante Natal Work.
The welfare of the expectant mother, which hitherto had
not received the attention that its importance demanded, in the
Council's Maternity scheme, has now, to a considerable degree,
had that reproach removed, and during 1921 the arrangements
which the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee and the
Council sanctioned were practically completed. These arrangements
included the provision of a properly-equipped Central
Ante-Natal Clinic at the Borough Maternity Hospital,
Bolingbroke Grove, and the appointment of an assistant medical
officer (Maternity and Child Welfare)—Dr. Grace Skene—who
took up her duties about the middle of August. Subsidiary
ante-natal clinics have been established at the Maternity Centres
at Latchmere Baths and Plough Road, and the medical officers
at the voluntary clinics were invited to make use of the facilities
provided at the Central Clinic at the Maternity Hospital,
The midwives practising in the district were also invited to send
their patients, and many of them have responded and as a
matter of routine now send their cases to the clinic, and frequently
attend themselves to consult upon matters of interest
concerning their cases the medical officer in charge of the
clinic.
Every patient attending the Ante-Natal Clinic is requested
to attend the clinic once a month during the expectant period.
In every case an examination is made at the first visit, with a
view to the finding of any abnormality or indisposition, and to
the treatment or removal of such abnormalities or diseased
conditions. General advice is given on personal hygiene, and
instruction in regard to the provision of suitable clothing, etc.,
for the lying-in period. In order to ensure breast feeding for
the children when born, special advice is given as to the
treatment of the breast.
Although these ante-natal clinics were only established in
October, 1921, from the outset the attendances have been considerable,
an average of 50 women being seen at the clinics
weekly, and their popularity is steadily increasing.
Institutional Treatment.
Where, on examination at the Ante-Natal Clinic, a woman
is found to be suffering from some abnormality or diseased
condition requiring hospital treatment, efforts are made to
secure at some appropriate institution the necessary treatment