London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Wembley 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wembley]
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| Year | Total No. of births notified | No. of births at Home | No. of births in Hospital | No. of births in M.C.C. Hospitals (included in preceding column) | Births in Private Nursing Homes and at Private Addresses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | 1,457 | 723 | 401 | - | 333 |
| 49.6% | 27.5% | 22.9% | |||
| 1935 | 1,576 | 797 | 441 | 147 | 338 |
| 50.7% | 27.9% | 9.3% | 21.4% | ||
| 1936 | 1,642 | 739 | 571 | 156 | 332 |
| 45.0% | 34.8% | 9.5% | 20.2% | ||
| 1937 | 1,846 | 772 | 734 | 175 | 340 |
| 41.8% | 39.8% | 9.5% | 18.4% | ||
| 1938 | 1,821 | 648 | 854 | 368 | 319 |
| 35.6% | 46.9% | 20.2% | 17.5% |
DOMICILIARY MIDWIVES SERVICE.
As was explained in the Report for 1937, the County Council
are the Local Supervising Authority under the Midwives
Acts.
With the increased development of the Borough Council's
general public health services, it would appear soon to be
appropriate for them again to seek to become the Local Supervising
Authority. The domiciliary midwives service is surely
an intimate and personal one best supervised by those officers
dealing with all the details of a modern health service.
For example, the Borough Council's responsibilities deal
with puerperal pyrexia and other infectious diseases. The
Council's divorce from the control of this service can be of no
help to the County Council, while, in fact, difficulties at times
may arise in the Borough Council's officers obtaining all the
information they should have relating to circumstances which
may have important epidemiological significance in the cause
or spread of such cases. Wembley is an isolated district
bounded by four County districts all of which Councils are themselves
the Local Supervising Authorities.
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