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Committee converted part of the Ross Ward, Barking Hospital for
this purpose and the clinic moved there in August. The new accommodation
is more pleasant and more adequate, and has undoubtedly
further enhanced the value of the clinic.
CARE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
MATERNITY SERVICE
Ante-Natal Care. This was received by all but 5 of the 1,012
Barking mothers confined during 1954 and was given as follows:Clinics
865
Hospitals (excluding Barking Hospital) 92
General Practitioners 50
No ante-natal care
1,012
From these figures you will see that a very considerable proportion
of mothers receive their ante-natal care in our clinics—whether they
are being confined in the Barking Hospital or in their own home.
By the end of the year some modifications of the present system had
been arranged which, it is hoped, will further increase the value of
the care given during 1955—and with more convenience to the mothers.
It is hoped that, as a first step, each mother will be interviewed
by a health visitor before coming to a doctor's clinic. This interview
can be conducted without any atmosphere of haste—difficult to eradicate
when a medical officer is waiting to be "fed" with patients—
and will give the mother a chance to discuss any problems fully with
her "own" health visitor. An appointment will then be made for a
visit to a special "booking" session at the Upney Clinic, attended by
the resident medical officers of the Upney Maternity Hospital. This
will give the mother-to-be an early opportunity of meeting the doctors
who will look after her if she is admitted to hospital for confinement,
and will allow the medical officers to "vet" the cases they are being
asked to book. At the same visit the mother will be able to have her
chest X-rayed—a service which I have been anxious to arrange lor
some time. This is of importance since pulmonary tuberculosis is
perhaps more common in women of childbearing age than those
younger or older, and since those with the disease tend to relapse
following a confinement. To save the mother unnecessary travelling,
the remaining visits will be paid to the clinic nearest to her home
This will also maintain close contact with the health visitors who
provide the most important part of ante-natal care—the instruction
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