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MOTHERS AND CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS.
Municipal Centres.—On the outbreak of war one of the Council's three Municipal Health
Centres—Health Centre (3)—was closed as a Health Centre and brought into use as a First Aid Post.
The Maternity and Child Welfare Work for the whole of Willesden then had to be carried out at the
two remaining Health Centres. For a number of years overcrowding at the Health Centres has
been considerable. In the Ante-Natal Clinics these conditions reached their worst. For many years
plans for a new Health Centre (2) and the extension of Health Centre (3) were under consideration
by the Council and in August, 1938, plans approved by the Willesden Council for new Health Centre (2)
were submitted to the Ministry of Health and Board of Education for their approval. These Government
Departments still had the plans under consideration on the outbreak of war when the matter
was postponed.
Maternity and child welfare attendances are more conducive to overcrowding than school
attendances and as the bulk of attendances are now maternity and child welfare attendances the
conditions at the Health Centres are even worse than formerly, notwithstanding the fact that the
sessions at the two Health Centres now open have been increased to the maximum possible. The
Health Centres have also had to cope with large attendances in connection with the distribution of
babies' anti-gas helmets.
At the Municipal Centres, expectant mothers attended the medical consultations and treatment
Clinics on 14,383 occasions; nursing mothers 30,182 and children under five 57,296, making a total
of 101,861 attendances.
Out of the total number of 2,738 children registered as born alive during the year, 1,919 or
70 per cent. subsequently attended the Municipal Welfare Centres. Altogether, however, 2,004 children
under 1 year of age attended the Municipal Centres for the first time during the year, excluding transfers
from other districts. This represents 73 per cent. of the 2,738 registered live births belonging to
Willesden. 309 children between the ages of 1 and 5 years attended the Municipal Centres for the
first time during the year, excluding transfers from other districts.
The number of live births occurring amongst expectant mothers who attended the Ante-Natal
Clinics was 1,652; 73 per cent. of these mothers with their babies subsequently attended the Welfare
Centres.
Government Evacuation Scheme—Expectant Mothers.—The registration of expectant
mothers under the Government's Evacuation Scheme was carried out at the Health Centres in
accordance with the Government plan. On the 1st September, 1939, 101 mothers within a month
of confinement and 288 within more than a month of confinement had registered. Actually 77
mothers within a month of confinement were despatched from the three Municipal Health Centres
on 2nd September, 1939. The expectant mothers within more than a month of confinement were
evacuated with non-school parties by the Willesden Education Department. By the end of the year
the majority of these mothers had returned to Willesden.
Maternity Hospital—
Bookings.—1,113 patients were booked during 1939 for confinement in the Willesden
Maternity Hospital. This is the largest number yet booked in any year. The fees at which these
1,113 cases were booked varied from 3 at £15 to 402 free. The average fee per case was approximately
£1 17s. 9d.
During 1939, 379 applicants for confinement in the Willesden Maternity Hospital were unable
to be booked for the reasons set out below :—
Table No. 2.—Applications for Booking Refused.
No beds available 338
Not resident in Willesden 33
Will not have had 3 months' residence in Willesden prior to expected
date of confinement 8
379
Hospital Confinements.—During 1939, 913 women were confined in the Willesden Maternity
Hospital. In addition to these, a number of Willesden mothers were confined in Institutions outside
Willesden, 426 births of Willesden residents being notified from such outside Institutions—104 from
Queen Charlotte's Hospital, 55 from St. Mary's Hospital, 22 from Queen Mary's Maternity Home,
Hampstead, 22 from University College Hospital, 21 from Paddington Hospital, 14 from Middlesex
Hospital and smaller numbers from other Hospitals; 51 from a Nursing Home and smaller numbers
from other Nursing Homes. These, together with some 389 in the Central Middlesex County Hospital,
are approximately 62 per cent. of the births belonging to Willesden and show the desire of the
present-day mother for institutional confinement.