View report page

programme was again normal. In spite of the evacuation
of many expectant mothers the number of attendances at
your clinics amounted to 6,726, a slight increase on the
figure for the previous year; the number of post-natal
attendances (392) and gynaecological attendances (332)
were much the same as for the previous year.
(b) Midwifery.
(1) Supervision. There were 18 midwives practising
in the Borough at the end of the year, seven of which were
employed at the Upney Maternity Pavilion.
During the year 1939s midwives sought medical
assistance in 261 cases; 65 of these were on behalf of babies,
(2) Midwives Act, 1936. The arrangements made by
the Council pursuant to the Midwives Act, 1936, worked very
smoothly until the outbreak of war when some 240 expectant
mothers were evacuated under the Council's Scheme. About
170 of these were sent to various reception areas in the
West of England; the remaining 70, whose confinements were
imminent, were sent to Bishops Stortford.
A large house was converted for use as an emergency
maternity hospital; your four district midwives were
temporarily transferred. The arrangements at Bishops
Stortford were most successful, and it is hoped to use the
same emergency hospital should evacuation again be ordered
for expectant mothers.
Upwards of six-hundred mothers were delivered in
Barking under your district midwifery scheme during the year
1939.
(c) Upney Maternity Pavilion.
The Maternity Hospital became part of the Emergency
Hospital Scheme just prior to the outbreak of war and those
patients who were fit for discharge were discharged on the
order of the Ministry; some two months later it was re-opened
as a Maternity Hospital.
As a result of this temporary closure, the evacuation
scheme and the policy of limiting the number of admissions,
there was a reduction in the number of cases dealt with.
Pour-hundred and four patients were admitted, 50 of which were
for ante-natal treatment; the corresponding figures for the
year 1938 were 504 and 44 respectively.
(d) Infant Welfare Centres.
The number of attendances at infant welfare centres
decreased on account of evacuation and also because at the
outbreak of hostilities some of the clinic sessions were
curtailed. 32,163 attendances were made during 1939s compared
with 37,925 during 1938.
(e) Home Visiting.
The gradual return of many evacuated mothers and
babies made home visiting all the more important and difficult
since the outbreak of war. Your Health Visitors were unable
to devote so much time to this work during 1939, and the
number of visits paid was 17,696, as compared with 21,936 in
the previous year.
- 11 -