London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Battersea 1931
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Battersea Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
30 •
Ante-Natal Work.
The Ante-Natal Clinics provided by the Council under their
Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme are under the direction and
supervision of the Consultant Gynaecologist (Miss Alice Bloomfield,
m.d., f.r.c.s.). These Clinics are held at the new Out-patient
Department of the Borough Maternity Hospital on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays, and for the convenience of patients living at a distance
from the Hospital a session is held at the Southlands Centre on
Fridays. Subsidiary Clinics are held at the Plough Road and East
Battersea Centres, which are attended by the Assistant Medical
Officer (Maternity and Child Welfare), and the Women's League of
Service, a voluntary organisation, whose Battersea Centre for Maternity
and Child Welfare is linked up with that of the Council's Scheme,
also holds an Ante-Natal Clinic at their Southlands premises. Each
mother who books for admission to the Borough Maternity Hospital,
or for attendance of the Borough Maternity Nursing Staff in her
own home, is required to attend the Ante-Natal Clinic periodically
before her confinement, and every case is seen at least once by the
Consultant Gynaecologist. Doctors and private Midwives practising
in Battersea are also encouraged to send their maternity
patients to the Central Ante-Natal Clinic at the Borough Maternity
Hospital for examination and report by the Consultant Gynaecologist.
Miss Bloomfield (Consultant Gynæcologist) reports :—
Tuesday Afternoon (" Special ") Clinic.—The total attendances
at this Clinic numbered 930, including 810 new cases, i.e. an increase
of 167 attendances, and 108 new cases over the previous year, 1930.
Blood for the Wassermann Reaction was taken in 810 instances,
giving a positive result in only 6 cases.
Other types of case attending the Clinic were as follows:—
| Other types of case attending the Clinic were as follows:— | ||
| Complaining of vaginal discharge | No treatment required | 2 cases |
| Films taken | 9 „ | |
| [Treatment given | 18 ,, | |
| Post-natal cases | 4 „ | |
| For Prolapse | 5 „ | |
| For the diagnosis of pregnancy, &c. | 14 „ | |
Wednesday and Thursday Morning Clinics.—Number of
Clinics held, 106.
The total attendances at these Clinics numbered 2,597, with an
average attendance of 24.5, as against 2,128 attendances with an
average of 20.5 patients per clinic in 1930. The number of new
patients attending was 469 (1930, 434).
Booking date with reference to the period of pregnancy:—
1 to 6 months, 373 cases; 6 to 8 months, 95 cases ; 8 months on,
1 case.
Cases referred for Dental Treatment—126.
Cases referred to the Tuberculosis Dispensary—3.