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Wearing apparel 386
Household linen 2
Curtains and furniture hangings 5
Upholstery work 1
Umbrellas 2
Artificial flowers 12
Brush making 4
Cardboard boxes 41
Feather sorting 2
Boxing, carding of buttons 153
Christmas crackers and stockings 19
Lampshades 4_
631
CARE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
Notification of Births
The following table shows the births notified during the year:-
Live births (a) Domiciliary 897
(b) Hospital or Nursing Home 4,696
Still births (a) Domiciliary 3
(b) Hospital or Nursing Home 75
5,671
Ante-natal Clinics
The numbers of patients attending ante-natal clinics at the eleven centres in the Borough has
fluctuated slightly throughout the year but has shown no major changes. The main difference that has
been noticed in 1965 as compared with previous years has followed the introduction of catchment area
organisation by the Regional Hospital Boards. This has meant the hospitals have taken responsibility
forfinding bedsfor patients who require institutional delivery living within defined areas. It has put an
end to the bad old system under which some mothers had no definite booking right up to the onset of
labour and were admitted to whatever bed was available through the Emergency Bed Service. All mothers
who need hospital beds are now given a definite booking in early pregnancy and are no longer in a state
of worry and anxiety in late pregnancy.
Ante-natal work is done more in Hornsey clinics than in other parts of the Borough because of the
unusual position of the Alexandra Maternity Home. All the ante-natal supervision of patients booked there
has always been done in local authority clinics and this system continues although in other parts of the
Borough, for patients booked in other hospitals, general practitioners are gradually taking over a greater
proportion of the work. The catchment area scheme has had some disadvantages in connection with the
Alexandra Maternity Home and has caused it to be underbooked and incompletely filled in some months.
The area from which it could accept patients was increased, from Hornsey only, to include parts of
Barnet, Camden and Islington and, to allow for more bookings from these areas, criteria for booking were
tightened to allow only those expecting first babies or those whose social conditions would not permit
home confinement to be admitted. The flow of patients from other areas has not been as expected,
resulting in underbooking, but this is now improving and it is hoped that soon a complete solution will be
found which will be fairer to all concered.
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