View report page

- 34 -
was concluded between this Council and the Board of Governors of the
hospital to replace a similar agreement between the former authority
(the London County Council) and the hospital. This provided for the
continuance of the hospital's district midwifery service in the area
already specified and the supply to the midwives of all the necessary
medical equipment, in return for payment by the Council of an agreed
amount for each domiciliary confinement attended on the district.
The Kensington District Nursing Association employs two midwives
who undertake the puerperal nursing of early discharges, i.e., women
who are delivered in hospital but are discharged home before the end
of the lying-in period.

Fewer home confinements took place during the year compared with
1965. This is in accordance with the general trend throughout the
country and is due partly to the falling birth rate and partly to the
fact that, in this area, there is at present no shortage of maternity
beds in hospitals and bookings are not being restricted to mothers in
the priority groups. The Council's midwives have continued to ensure
that all women whom they accept for domiciliary confinement are also
booked with their doctors, usually general practitioner/obstetricians.
In 1966, out of 167 cases attended by the Council's midwives, only four
had no booked doctor and, of these four, two cases were hospital-booked
patients whose babies were born at home prematurely, and the other two
were not booked with any midwife and had had no ante-natal care.
Only four premature live births were attended by domiciliary
midwives in the borough. All four infants weighed more than
4lbs.l5ozs. at birth and survived.