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49
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Notification of Births.
Confusion sometimes exists between notification and registration
of births. The figures below refer, unless otherwise
specified, to notifications received under the Notification of
Births (Extension) Act, 1915, which requires that all births
should be notified to the Medical Officer of Health of the district
concerned, within 36 hours of their occurrence. This duty is in
addition to and not in substitution of registration of births, which
must be made within 6 weeks of birth.
1,827 notifications of live births were received during the year.
296 notifications (including stillbirths) were received from
medical practitioners and parents, and 1,581 from midwives.
Information was received of 335 births outside this area.
The following list shows where most of these occurred:—East End
Maternity Hospital 134, Oldchurch Hospital 64, Queen Mary's
Hospital, Stratford 14, Charing Cross Hospital 43, Plaistow
Maternity Hospital 33.
Illegitimate births accounted for only 2.27 per cent, of the total
live births.
Stillbirths.
37 male and 13 female stillbirths were notified, the
corresponding figures for registration being 43 and 17. The rate
per 1,000 of total population registered was 0.607, the rate for
England and Wales being 0.62. The percentage of illegitimate
stillbirths to the total was 1.66 compared with a percentage of
illegitimate to total births of 2.3.
Of the total stillbirths, there were 27 of those patients who
had gone to term, the duration of labour averaged 11 hours, the
extreme limits being 3 days and 25 minutes. Of these 7 attended
the Council's Ante-Natal Clinic, 13 received ante-natal supervision
elsewhere; the remaining 7 apparently received no ante-natal care.
The alleged causes were : contracted or deformed pelvis,
albuminuria, malpresentation, prolonged labour, condition of
mother, strangulation, fall, and scar from Caesarian section.