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practitioners practising in the Borough. Expectant mothers are
invited to select from the names on the panel the practitioner
whom they would wish to attend them in the event of the services
of a doctor being needed at the confinement. Appointments for
the necessary examinations at the Clinics by the doctor selected
are then made by the Public Health Department. Ante-natal
examinations of those mothers who have arranged to have their
confinements in Institutions outside the Borough are carried out
by the Assistant Medical Officer of Health.
All attendances at the Ante-natal Clinics are by appointment,
by which means periods of waiting are reduced.
Ante-natal Clinics for those mothers attending the Beckenham
and Penge Joint Maternity Hospital are held at the Maternity
Hospital: for all other mothers they are held at the Borough Clinics
at the Town Hall and in Hawes Lane, West Wickham.
During 1945, 135 births were attended by Midwives, and
95 of these mothers attended at the Clinics.
Ante-natal Assistant Medical
Panel Officer
Sessions held 61 48
Number of expectant mothers
attending 465 166
Number of attendances made 751 289
(b) Inspection of home conditions; advice as to general hygiene,
securing extra nourishment, provision of extra clothing, etc.
The Health Visitors pay visits to the homes of expectant
mothers and assist in all these matters—except in the cases of those
mothers who have engaged the services of a medical practitioner.
During 1945 the Health Visitors made 990 visits for these
purposes.
2. ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONFINEMENT.
(a) Institutions. (b) Mothers' own homes.
(a) Institutions.
The Institutions within the Borough are:—
The Beckenham & Penge Joint Maternity Hospital.
Two private Nursing Homes, registered under the Public
Health Act, 1936.
The Beckenham Hospital which takes a few maternity
cases but only under certain special conditions.
The demand for institutional accommodation for confinements
has been steadily increasing for a number of years. This is shown by
the following figures:—
1935 56% of the births took place in Institutions.
1938 67% of the births took place in Institutions.
1945 79% of the births took place in Institutions.
The existing housing situation and the difficulty in securing
adequate help in the home undoubtedly contributed to the high
percentage of institutional births in 1945, but as stated above this
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