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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
St Pancras 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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135
MATERNAL CARE.
Maternal care comprises ante-natal care, care at the confinement and post-natal care,
It is generally agreed that early systematic and thorough ante-natal care is the most important
of all means to be taken towards the reduction of maternal mortality.
It will be seen from the following Table VII., supplied by the Registrar-General, that
8 deaths were primarily classified as due to childbirth, and that 3 deaths were classified as
being associated with pregnancy but not attributable thereto. The puerperal maternal
mortality rate (deaths primarily classified to childbirth per 1000 births live and still) for 1937
was accordingly 3.2.
Table VII.
Maternal Mortality in Borough of St. Pancras in 1937.
| AGES. | CONDI TIONS. | WARDS | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15-20 years. | 20-25 years. | 25-30 years. | 30-35 years. | 86-40 years. | 40-45 years. | 45 years and over. | Married. | Single. | Widowed. | I. | II. | III. | IV. | V. | VI. | VII. | VIII. | No Address. | |
| Post abortive sepsis | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| Ectopic gestation | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| Puerperal sepsis | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Other toxaemias of pregnancy | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Other accidents of childbirth | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Associated with pregnancy and childbearing but not classed thereto | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — |
Midwives Act, 1936.
The London County Council are the employing Authority. The scheme set up under the
Act has been worked out in close co-operation with the Borough Councils, which are grouped
for the purpose into five areas, A, B, C, D and E. St. Pancras is in area B with Holborn,
Finsbury, Islington and the City of London. The Act conies into force on 1st January, 1938,
and a report will be included in next year's Annual Report.
Ante-natal Care. As the friends of many families in the Borough, the health visitors
are the natural confidants when a baby is expected. This results in a kind of informal
notification of pregnancy so far as the clientele of the Welfare Centres is concerned.
Reference to Table IV. on page 121 will show that during the year 3,634 visits were paid to
1,445 expectant mothers. From Table III., page 111, it will be seen that 1,129 expectant
mothers made 5,189 attendances to the ante-natal clinics at the various centres included in
the Council's scheme. The total number of births during the year was 2,364.
In addition to consultations held at the Centres maintained by the Borough Council
are those at the General and Women's Hospitals, both in and adjacent to the Borough. Classes
in Mothercraft are held at the various Centres, and also massage treatment for expectant
mothers.