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The total number of sessions held during the year was 58.
MATERNITY SERVICES
During 1965, there were 3,737 births in the borough. Of these, 331 took
place at home and 3,406 (or 91%) in hospitals and other institutions.
Before the end of 1964, there was great pressure on hospital maternity departments
in this area, as elsewhere in London, and difficulty was often experienced in finding beds
even for priority cases when there were obvious medical or social indications for institutional
confinement.
To alleviate the position at the ante-natal clinics where many fruitless applications
had often to be made to several hospitals before a bed could be found, and to simplify
booking arrangements generally, a Maternity Bed Bureau was operated. All bookings were
then made at a central office with more satisfactory results. The use of a similar Bed Bureau
was continued, after 1st April, 1965, in this borough. By October, 1964, a system of
"maternity catchment areas" for each group of hospitals had been introduced and it had
become the responsibility of the hospitals to find beds for all patients in their catchment areas
for whom a hospital confinement was indicated on medical or social grounds.
Since the end of 1964, pressure on hospital beds in this area has been very much
reduced and, in September, 1965, it was felt that the use of the Bed Bureau could be discontinued.
Since then, bookings have been made directly by clinic staff with the hospitals
and no difficulty has been experienced by the ante-natal clinics in finding beds for priority
cases.
Kensington and Chelsea faIIs within the catchment areas of ten hospitals belonging
to two Metropolitan Regional Hospital Boards, but the great majority of patients are, in
practice, booked at any one of seven hospitals within or near to the borough.
ANTE-NATAL CARE.
Arrangements for the supervision of a hospital booked case throughout the antenatal
period vary. The majority attend the hospital early in pregnancy when the bed is
booked and a complete obstetrical and medical examination is carried out. The patients
may then continue to attend the hospital clinic, but some are referred back to the Council's
clinics where they attend regularly until the 32nd or 36th week of pregnancy when they once
again become the responsibility of the hospital.