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Local Health Authority if a midwife has sent for him, but is paid by the
Local Executive Council if relatives call him in!
Ante-Natal Care. Reference has already been made to the good
use made of your powers under the 1918 Maternity and Child Welfare
Act in the building of the Upney Maternity Hospital, and it will have
been apparent that from the earliest days you had a highly developed
system of ante-natal clinics for mothers booked for confinement at
Upney or in their own homes.
The typical Barking approach is shown in the following extract
from the report of the Medical Officer of Health for 1927:—
"A new development towards the end of the year at the
ante-natal clinic was the attendance of one of the health
visitors at one session weekly for the purpose of giving
advice and instruction in ante-natal hygiene and other
appropriate subjects."
As long ago as a quarter of a century it was realised that the education
of the expectant mother in matters relating to her own health during
pregnancy and in the care of the coming baby was even more important
than the ection of any obstretic abnormalities, vital though
this may be n recent years the health visitors have further developed
the educative side to their ante work by the introduction of classes
in the art of relaxation. Mothers who have mastered the technique
invariably have a shorter and easier delivery, and this is already being
reflected in the increasing proportion of those who decline the help of
gas and air analgesia. I hope that ultimately it will also have its effect
in reducing still-birth and neonatal death rates.
In 1927 less than half the Barking mothers received ante-natal
care in your clinics. Some may have been seen by private doctors
but it is probable that many were without this important supervision.
By patient work the position has been steadily improved until the present
day when some 90% of expectant mothers receive ante-natal care in
'he clinics, the remainder being under the care of hospitals or their
own family doctors. Out of a total of 1,110 mothers confined in 1953
onlyone failed to receive any ante-natal care, this patient being
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ANTE-NATAL CLINICS
Number attending for first time 1,402
Total number of attendances 12,600