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4. Home helps are available, and assistance towards payment of the midwife's
fee is given in necessitous cases provided that the patient is willing
to attend an ante-natal clinic.
5. Applicants for free milk and/or free accouchment sets are expected to
attend an ante-natal clinic.
Since the Borough Council became the Local Supervising Authority for
midwives in 1931, it has been easier to ensure that the majority of midwives'
cases are under supervision during pregnancy.
Expectant mothers who have not booked with midwives and have
not kept their appointments at the ante-natal clinic are visited by a health
visitor and urged to re-attend unless ante-natal supervision is being undertaken
elsewhere. Visits are made also to expectant mothers who apply
for home helps in order to find out if the home conditions are suitable for
the confinement to take place at home. If not, arrangements are offered for
admission to an institution.
The services of a Consultant Obstetrician are available to any general
practitioner in the Borough.
When a midwife sends in a medical aid notice in which the abnormality
is " prematurity," a health visitor visits before the tenth day to give advice
regarding the importance of keeping a premature baby warm. Midwives
are encouraged to make special requests for early visits by health visitors
in cases where there is any difficulty with the feeding, but these requests
are not often made.