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The Care of the Unsupported Mother
The Authority has one Mother and Baby Home, Guilford House, and this provides 14 ante-natal
beds and 14 postnatal beds with 14 cots. No deliveries take place in the Home.
Of the 160 referrals to the Department, 40 were admitted to Guilford House, 32 were admitted
to other Local Authorities' Homes and 88 were not admitted. In addition, 91 cases were admitted
to Guilford House from other Local Authorities.
Family Planning
Early in the year the Council approved the setting up of a domiciliary family planning service
as a further extension of the service provided through the medium of the Family Planning
Association. Some time elapsed before a doctor and nurse were appointed by the F.P.A, but by
the beginning of September the domiciliary service was ready to be put into operation and General
Medical Practitioners throughout the Borough were informed. The estimated cost of this service
is £10.0.0. per patient per annum and the cases referred are vetted by a senior medical officer
of the Department. By the end of the year, four families had been referred.
The domiciliary service covers the need of persons unable to attend the F.P. Clinics and
especially of those who otherwise would not take any action. The cost of large families to the
community can be considerable and many are problem families burdened by poverty and ill
health due to unwanted pregnancies occuring in quick succession, with the resulting lowering of
standards. The parents may be socially maladjusted and mentally incapable, many themselves
being products of broken and needy homes, and unable to care adequately for their children.
These families are often below the Ministry of Social Security poverty line and the children find
themselves physically, mentally and educationally at a disadvantage compared with children from
small families.
Housing problems are very real for these families, particularly as there is a shortage of
houses with more than three bedrooms.
The problem of uncontrolled fertility can be alleviated by persuasion and suitable educational
methods but to be fully effective the necessary advice must be brought within the reach of those
couples most in need of it.
Cervical Cytology
This diagnostic service continued during the year at the three clinics, Torrington, Childs
Hill and East Barnet. A fourth weekly clinic was started at Watling Clinic at the beginning of
May, this being made possible by the ability of Edgware General Hospital to provide the
necessary technical facilities for the reading of up to 20 smears a week.
Owing to staffing and accommodation difficulties at Barnet General Hospital, there was
towards the middle of the year, a progressive contraction of cervical cytology work and the
sessions at Torrington, Childs Hill and East Barnet were reduced from one a week to one a
fortnight.
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