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The council's scheme for the provision of dentures to necessitous expectant and nursing mothers
has proved of great value.
Midwifery Arrangements.
Ante-Natal Services.
The ante-natal clinic forms the co-ordinating mechanism of the council's scheme and brings the
patient into touch with the services which would be of benefit to her. Eleven ante-natal sessions
are held weekly, including an evening clinic to provide supervision and help for those women who are
obliged to work during the early months of pregnancy. One thousand two hundred and sixty
expectant mothers attended the welfare centres during the year, with a total of 5,850 attendances ;
at the evening clinic 48 sessions were held and 151 women attended, making 449 attendances, with
an average attendance of 9-3 at each session. The total numbers attending the council's ante-natal
clinics during the year 1937 are therefore 1,411 individual mothers with 6,299 attendances; the
corresponding numbers for 1936 were 1,340 and 5,085, and for 1935,1,120 and 4,402. It is satisfactory
to note the increasing use which is made of the council's services.
In addition to the borough council's clinics, two ante-natal sessions are held weekly at the
Queen Charlotte's hospital district ante-natal clinic at No. 240, Ladbroke Grove. One hundred
and three sessions were held during 1937, at which 362 Kensington women attended. There are
also ante-natal departments attached to the London county council and other hospitals serving the
borough.
Full use is now being made of the ante-natal services provided by the council, and it is only in
rare instances that a Kensington woman does not obtain ante-natal care. The women attending at the
hospital ante-natal departments and at the borough clinics represent approximately 78 per cent,
of the total Kensington births, which is a satisfactory figure since the above-standard cases, who
would be under the care of a private doctor or specialist, would cover most of the remaining 22 per
cent.
The excellent co-operation between the borough council's clinics and the private doctors and
midwives, and the London county council and voluntary hospitals continues, and is an essential
factor in the success of the maternity scheme.
Hospital Accommodation.
The hospital accommodation available for Kensington women is ample for the needs of the
borough, and no difficulty is experienced in obtaining admission to hospital for any woman who
requires it.
Kensington Maternity Home.
The borough council's maternity home of ten beds is conducted by Queen Charlotte's hospital
at " Invermead," No. 341, Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush. It is a large house situated in pleasant
grounds, and in which the nervous young patient receives skilled obstetric care in the reassuring
surroundings of a private home. Women entering the home receive their ante-natal supervision
from the borough clinics, but are referred once to the home before confinement to be seen by one
of the honorary staff attached to Queen Charlotte's hospital. The same consultant is in charge
of the post-natal clinic attached to the home.