London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of Westminster 1925
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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also conducts the clinics for infants. The number of mothers who attended
during the year and the total attendances are given below.
Table I.—Ante-natal Clinics.
| Centre. | Sessions. | First Attendance. | Subsequent Attendances. | Total. | No. of Individuals. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pimlico Road | 52 | 55 | 52 | 107 | 82 |
| Bessborough Street | 51 | 88 | 65 | 153 | 103 |
The object of ante-natal supervision is to ensure that the mother
will be protected as far as it is possible from the preventable maladies
which sometimes render the period of pregnancy a time of illness and
distress. Many of the difficulties and dangers of labour can be foreseen
and guarded against. There are still too many women who die as a
result of pregnancy or of conditions connected with it. In 1924 there
were 2,847 deaths in England and Wales from causes directly connected
with childbirth, 1,018 of these being due to sepsis. It would appear that
a proportion, probably amounting only to a third of the total deaths,
could have been prevented by ante-natal measures. Not until the very
eve of labour, or sometimes not until it has actually begun, is it possible
to comprehend certain dangers which may jeopardise the life of the
mother or infant. Ante-natal supervision can do a great deal in safeguarding
the general health of the mother and in providing against certain
natural difficulties, but it is clear that the weight of our efforts should
be directed towards the actual state of labour and its premonitory
symptoms. In first pregnancies it would appear that modern conditions
of life tend to vary what should be a natural process to one approaching
the pathological. In those cases it is most desirable that patients showing
any deviation from what may be considered normal should be placed
at the very first signal of distress in the institutions devoted to this special
purpose. Comment has already been made in the first section of this
report that in Westminster there is an increasing tendency for mothers
to enter hospitals for their confinements.
At Charing Cross, St. George's, and Westminster Hospitals expectant
mothers who have made arrangements for their confinements with these
hospitals may attend in the special departments at regular intervals
during the period preceding labour to receive advice and treatment.
Molhercraft.—The teaching of mothercraft has always occupied
a very prominent place in the activities of the Westminster Health
Society, and the Society have received well-merited honour for their