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Facilities provided for General Practitioner Obstetricians
Ante and post-natal sessions held in Council clinics 540
Child Welfare sessions held at G.P.s' surgeries at which Council staff were
present 50
Domiciliary Midwifery.
To meet the needs of mothers desiring a home confinement, the Council employed
full-time and part-time midwives. In addition an arrangement was made for
a small district within the Borough to be allocated to the General Lying-in Hospital,
S.E.I, which employed four midwives for domiciliary work to be carried out on an
agency basis for the Council.
Midwives visited to assess the suitability or otherwise of the home for domiciliary
confinement and for the possible nursing at home of mothers able to leave
hospital 48 hours after confinement.
During the nine months from 1st April, 1965, early discharge schemes were
arranged with Guy's, Dulwich, St. Giles' and Lambeth Hospitals. The number of
mothers who had their babies in hospital and returned home 48 hours after delivery
increased from 122 in the June quarter to 150 in the December quarter.
On 1st April, 1965, a joint arrangement was made by the Council with the
London Boroughs of Lambeth and Wandsworth for the operation of an emergency
control centre, situated at Lambeth Town Hall, to be manned 24 hours a day. The
three Councils each provided two non-medical supervisors of midwives who worked
on a rota basis to provide a 24-hour service. Any patient living in the Council's
area who was unable to obtain her booked midwife or relief midwife contacted this
centre. Other emergencies which arose were babies born before arrival of doctor or
midwife; unbooked patients in labour; hospital booked patients too far advanced
in labour to be removed; miscarriages and abortions.
The Council and hospital midwives gave ante-natal care to mothers at welfare
centres and worked in close association with the health visitors in providing instruction
on mothercraft and health education. One midwife was attached to a group
practice of general practitioner obstetricians.
At least three home visits were made to each mother booked for a home confinement
when midwives advised on the preparation of the home and gave ante-natal
care. Relaxation classes were held at several centres.
In addition to the portable inhaler for the administration of Trilene carried by
each midwife, two "gas and air" machines and cylinders of nitrous oxide were
available at all times for midwives and doctors for use on the district. Intra-gastric
oxygen resuscitation apparatus for use in the treatment of asphyxia of the new
born was provided for each midwife. Free maternity outfits were provided.
There were 716 domiciliary confinements during the period 1st April to 31st
December, 1965. Of these, 22 were premature births, including one set of twins, and
five were stillbirths.
Approximately 85% of the Council's midwives were approved as teachers
under the Central Midwives Board's second period training scheme. At 1st April,
52