View report page

13
There are three deaths not mentioned in the above table. One was due to puerperal fever
following early miscarriage ; the second followed extra.uterine pregnancy and in this case the
patient did not receive ante.natal care which might have saved her life ; in the third case, the
expectant woman was found to be suffering from inflamed varicose veins and was advised by her
doctor to take to her bed, but the advice was not accepted and a clot of blood caused death prior
to labour.
During the year, there was no instance where a general medical practitioner or a district
midwife attended more than one fatal case.
In 1931, there were 2,485 births in Kensington and of these 595 may be said to have occurred
in families which are regarded as " above standard " financially and do not come within the scope
of the council's maternity and child welfare scheme. In respect of 1,328 of the 1,890 births in
families regarded as coming within the scope of the council's scheme, the expectant mothers
received ante.natal advice at the special clinics established in the borough. The women who
gave birth to the remaining 562 children may have received ante.natal attention from private
medical men or at hospitals, but it is probable that the majority did not secure for themselves
the advantages of skilled advice.
Of the 15 women who died in the process of child.bearing during 1931, all but four had
received ante.natal care ; but there is some evidence before me that this was not in all cases
received early enough in pregnancy to be effective.
I am satisfied that the council and the voluntary agencies with which they co.operate have
established an adequate number of ante.natal clinics and that no woman should have any difficulty
in securing pre.natal medical supervision free of cost to herself; but I am not satisfied that the
working.class women are sufficiently educated in regard to the paramount importance of the
skilled supervision of pregnancy. It is also unfortunate that of those seeking ante.natal advice
many delay taking this step until pregnancy is far advanced.
There is adequate accommodation in hospitals, nursing homes, etc., for those women who
cannot be safely confined at home.
The council, having secured the provision of a sufficient number of ante.natal clinics and
having provided a maternity home, cannot do more at the moment than (a) to continue their
educational efforts with a view to inducing every expectant woman in the borough to submit to
skilled supervision from her own doctor or from one of the ante.natal clinics throughout the last
five or six months of pregnancy, and (b) to satisfy themselves that the doctors at the ante.natal
clinics have adequate facilities and time to carry out their duties with such care that every
departure from the normal in a pregnant woman which is discoverable by medical skill will be
detected and treated.
GENERAL PROVISION OF HEALTH SERVICES IN THE AREA.
STAFF OF THE COUNCIL'S PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
A list of the staff engaged in the public health department at the end of the year 1931 will
be found in Table 7 of Appendix II.
PROFESSIONAL NURSING IN THE HOME.
As in past years, the Kensington District Nursing Association continued to carry out
professional nursing in the homes of the poor. The number of cases nursed during 1931 was
1,947 and the number of visits paid 40,273.