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Preparation for Childbirth
There were 474 psychoprophylaxis and 489 mothercraft sessions
during 1971. Attendances at these classes, which were 3,352 and
3,455 respectively, showed an encouraging and increasing interest
by mothers and senior school girls in the facilities provided. In
addition, 545 prospective parents attended the 36 parentcraft
evening sessions.
Health Visitors also gave talks to 5 organisations outside the
Borough services, at which there were 196 attendances. Such work
is welcomed as it enables the health visitors' skills to be made
available to a wider audience than those of age groups which
normally attend clinics and who are visited as part of the daily
routine of these officers.
Selection of Women for Hospital Confinement
It is obvious that the number of emergency hospital admissions
can be reduced by the correct booking of place of confinement in
accordance with certain criteria. The following tables are included
to indicate the degree of success of the selections made in the
Greenwich area during 1971. They serve also as a reminder of the
need for persistent effort to ensure hospital delivery for women in
the high risk groups.
Of the total of 356 home confinements listed, 22 concerned
illegitimate babies and 3 mothers over the age of 35 years who had
had 4 or more children previously and who clearly belonged to a
high risk category for whom delivery in a consultant maternity
department with full facilities is constantly urged.