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Most of the deaths occur in families of social class IV and V, and improvements in their living conditions
would probably save many lives.
Births
There was a further increase in the proportion of mothers having their babies in hospital, reaching
a new high record. There was a further reduction in home confinements, but a slightly greater number was
dealt with by county midwives, because they now practice in the South Kilburn area, transferred from mid.
wives of Queen Charlotte's Hospital in June, 1951.

At the beginning of the year, the Central Middlesex Hospital did not have enough maternity cases to
fill their beds, but before the year ended, many mothers were refused admission because of shortage of
accommodation. Medical factors and home conditions were considered when beds were booked for mothers,
and some mothers were advised to have their confinement at home. It is significant that there was an
increase in the number of births taking place in the smaller and larger hospitals outside Willesden.
The time is rapidly approaching when the question of hospital or home confinement will have to be
decided in an orderly fashion. On the one hand, mothers probably find it cheaper and more convenient to
have their babies in hospital particularly where there is overcrowding in the home; on the other hand, it
is more expensive for the nation, particularly when there is a shortage of general medical and surgical beds.
In April, 1952, the control of Kingsbury Maternity Hospital passed to the Board of Governors of
the Charing Cross Hospital, thus severing more completely an intimate relationship between the hospital
and the borough which had existed for 20 years.
Illegitimate Births
The birth rate in Willesden showed a slight increase (1.6 per cent.) over 1951 ; 14.47 per 1,000 as
compared with 14.24, but it was still 5.2 per cent, below that of England and Wales (15.3). The number
of illegitimate births has increased from 179 to 204.
As the death rate in illegitimate children is usually notoriously high, special attention was given to
the 119 illegitimate births which came to the notice of health visitors in 1952; 84 were not known to them.
Health visitors and midwives work very closely with hospital maternity almoners, officers of the
County Council's Children's Department, Moral Welfare Department, the Court and voluntary welfare
organisations. Additional help was given to mothers as soon as it was known that they were going to have
an illegitimate child. Mothers were invited to attend the ante.natal clinic, and arrangements were made for
hospital confinement unless they preferred to have the baby at home. They were given special invitations
to attend mothercraft classes and thus meet other mothers. Where necessary they were referred to the
County Council Moral Welfare Worker to arrange to go into a home before and after the confinement. They
were informed how to obtain national health insurance allowances, affiliation orders, and baby clothes and
perambulators from voluntary organisations. Advice was also given on the procedure for adoption, and for
placing the child with a foster mother or in a residential or day nursery.
Of the 119 illegitimate infants known to health visitors, 102 were born in hospital and 17 at home; 68
were first babies. It is interesting to note that a large number of mothers were over the age of 25, and that
breast feeding was probably below the average for the district as a whole.
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