View report page

32
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE
There were no changes of great importance in
the Maternity and Child Welfare service during the
year. We are still anxiously awaiting the allocation
of a site for a Welfare Centre and Day Nursery
in the Re-development Area to serve the North
Ward.
Co-operation with the maternity hospitals serving
the Borough continues. In the case of Bethnal
Green and London Hospitals we have now what
amounts to a virtual scheme of notification of
pregnancy so that preparations for the confinement
can be supervised by the Health Visitors from
an early stage. In addition, during the year closer
relationship between the council's maternity clinics and
the L.C.C. hospital midwifery service was promoted by
the association of Drs. Purce and Townshend with
Bethnal Green, Hackney and Mile End Hospitals in
an honorary capacity. This arrangement while it
imposes noobligations on the medical officers facilitates
their consultation with the hospital staffs with regard
to any mother who has attended the Clinic and is
subsequently admitted to hospital for confinement.
Co-ordination in ante-natal care has also been promoted
by the new Home midwifery service established
by the L.C.C. under the Midwives Act 1936.
NOTIFICATION OF BIRTHS.
During the year, 1,115 live births and 39 still births
were registered in the Borough; and 1,110 live births
were notified to the Medical Officer of Health. There
were also 37 stillbirths notified. Of the 1,147 living
and stillbirths notified, 272 were found to relate to
other districts and were duly transferred, 773 were
notified by midwives, 78 by maternity assistants of
the London Hospital, 16 by medical practitioners,
and 8 by parents and others.