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
Greenwich 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
37
Notification of Births Acts (1907 and 1915).
Public Health (London) Act, 1936.
All live births and all still births after 28th week of pregnancy
must be notified within 36 hours. Early knowledge enables the
Health Visitors to begin early visiting. Still-births must be
certified either by the Doctor or by the Midwife or by declaration
on a prescribed form, if no doctor or midwife was present. In
these latter cases the Minister of Health requires the Medical Officer
of Health to submit a special report in order that he may be satisfied
that the child was really still-born.
The following Table gives the number and character of the intimation received respecting births in the Borough:—
| Where Confined | Midwives | Doctors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwich Births | Other Boroughs' Births | Greenwich Births | Other Boroughs' Births | |
| St. Alfege Hospital | 330 | 417 | 32 | 28 |
| Greenwich Borough Council Maternity Home | 264 | 142 | 6 | 2 |
| Other Nursing Homes | 17 | 99 | 17 | 45 |
| Other Hospitals | — | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| At Home | 395 | 3 | 123 | 2 |
| Other Boroughs (Transfers Inwards) | 186 | — | 2 | — |
| 1,192 | 662 | 181 | 81 | |
From a perusal of the above Table it will be seen that 1,928
actually took place in the Borough of which number 743 were transferred
to Other Authorities. Against this 188 births which took
place in other areas were allocated to Greenwich, thus giving a
nett figure of 1,373.
Dental Clinic.—The Council's Dentist, Mr. G. F. Ferris,
L.D.S., R.C.S. (Eng.), attends at the Dispensary, Maze Hill once
a fortnight to deal with cases referred to him from the Welfare
Centres and Clinics. To enable him to cope with the increasing
number of "fillings and scalings" an extra session is held once a,
month,