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. To deal with this main problem and many others, special
Maternity Liaison Committees have been formed where representatives
of the three branches of the health service; hospitals, general
practitioners and the health department can meet for discussions.
Our department is represented on the North Central London and on
the North Middlesex Liaison Committees. Both these have met
twice in 1960 and it is hoped that their influence will make itself
felt in the future.
Ante-natal Clinics
These clinics show no decline in numbers and continue to be
busy sessions at almost all the centres. This is contrary to the
experience in many parts of the country where local authority antenatal
clinics have tended to fall away as general practitioners have
taken a renewed interest in caring for their pregnant patients. The
majority of patients attending doctors' sessions at the centres are
booked for hospital confinement. They are saved frequent long
journeys to the hospital by receiving attention locally in the intermediate
months of pregnancy. All the centres now have midwives'
sessions, apart from the doctors' sessions, where those expecting
domiciliary confinements are examined by the midwife who is likely
to be present at the birth. Wherever possible, patients expecting
to be confined at home are encouraged to book a general practitioner
to attend them for the pregnancy and birth but where they do not do
this the mothers have two or three supervisory examinations by the
clinic doctor.
In Hornsey the majority of patients are booked for confinement
at the Alexandra Maternity Home. The ante-natal care for these
patients continues to be undertaken entirely by the local clinics.
The matron of the Home knows all the Hornsey health visitors
personally, which makes co-operation much easier. In the course
of the year further improvements have been made in the system of
exchanging information with the Home.
The percentage of expectant mothers making at least one
attendance at one of the local authority ante-natal clinics was 61.3%
in 1960 compared with 63.6% the previous year.
The following tables give details of attendances at ante-natal
clinics, midwives clinics and mothercraft clinics during the year:
Mothercraft and Relaxation Classes
An additional class was commenced during the year at Mildura
Court Centre, Hornsey. Both the health visitor and the midwife
take part in the classes held at this Centre.
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