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
London County Council 1962
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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CARE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
The main features of the Council's services for care of mothers and young children
remained as in previous years. Day-to-day administration of the services is the responsibility
of the nine divisional health committees; details are given in the reports of the divisional
medical officers. Changes in centres during the year are reported in the section on health
service premises.
Maternity and child welfare
Particulars of sessions and attendances are given in the following table:
Table (i)—
| 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ante-natal, post-natal and combined clinics: | |||||
| Number at end of year | 112 | 111 | 109 | 109 | 108 |
| Sessions per month | 799 | 797 | 793 | 787 | 803 |
| Ante-natal: | |||||
| First attendances | 25,673 | 23,905 | 25,455 | 27,560 | 28,293 |
| Total attendances | 134,684 | 129,731 | 133,062 | 140,790 | 135,760 |
| Percentage of pregnant women attending | |||||
| an ante-natal clinic | 45 | 42 | 43 | 45 | 44 |
| Post-natal: | |||||
| Number of women attending during the | |||||
| year | 3,714 | 3,524 | 3,369 | 2,859 | 2,335 |
| Child welfare clinics: | |||||
| Number at end of year | 179 | 179 | 179 | 178 | 174 |
| Sessions per month | 1,991 | 1,957 | 2,034 | 2,057 | 2,081 |
| Attendances under 1 year | |||||
| First | 49,229 | 49,610 | 50,202 | 54,393 | 57,038 |
| Total | 611,057 | 606,042 | 578,250 | 599,930 | 600,436 |
| Attendances over 1 year | 177,283 | 152,627 | 163,845 | 169,023 | 166,401 |
| Attendances at special toddlers clinics | |||||
| (not included in above) | 38,940 | 38,361 | 37,533 | 38,203 | 37,790 |
| Percentage of infants attending a centre | |||||
| at least once in the first year of life | 88 | 89 | 88 | 90 | 90 |
General practitioner obstetricians—Following the principles laid down by the Maternity
Services (Cranbrook) Committee for improving co-ordination, co-operation and exchange
of information among the three branches of the maternity services, there was considerable
extension in eight of the Council's health divisions of the arrangements whereby general
practitioner obstetricians are given free use of the Council's ante-natal clinics to see
patients booked for maternity medical services. In the remaining division it was arranged
to put the scheme into practice on 1 January, 1963. In this connection table (ii) on page 54
is informative. The success of the Council's domiciliary midwives in encouraging mothers
to book a general practitioner obstetrician for their confinement is reflected in the reduced
number of mothers shown as attending the Council's clinics for their post-natal care in
the above table, as most of them go to the doctor's own surgery for these examinations.
| 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attendances at sessions provided by the Council | |||||
| First | 1,011 | 975 | 945 | 899 | 1,034 |
| Total | 4,392 | 4,260 | 4,337 | 4,226 | 4,423 |
| Women referred by the Council to Family Planning Association | 702 | 705 | 741 | 641 | 595 |