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21
Ante-natal examination is being sought more and
more by mothers in Bromley and they appreciate the
advice and help given them. Twelve cases with abnormal
conditions have been referred to London Hospitals for
further investigation and treatment, and arrangements
are made so that the mother is placed under the best
conditions possible for a safe confinement; the results
are gratifying. Good ante-natal care is one of the
greatest factors that is going to lower the maternal and
neo-natal mortality rates. There is a need for more
ante-natal clinics, for at the time of writing this report
the number of patients attending is far too many for the
time at the disposal of the clinic.
I am convinced that ante-natal examination can
only be effectively performed by the skilled gynaecologist;
the present practice whereby the midwife does the antenatal
supervision and the doctor the confinement should
he reversed, and provided the mother is skilfully and
periodically examined by the doctor in the ante-natal
period, the actual confinements should be left solely to
the midwife in all cases which show themselves as
physiologically normal.
Natal Services.
Six hundred and sixty-one births were known to have
occurred in the Borough during 1931, of which 637 were
notified in accordance with the provisions of the Notification
of Births Act, 1907, and of these 19 were stillbirths.
In addition, 24 births were discovered which
had not been duly notified, and investigations into noncompliance
with the Act proved that in most cases the
doctors and maternity nurses attending had left the duty
of notifying to the other, with the ultimate result that
the duty was not carried out. Warnings were given in
these and in other cases of forgetfulness to notify.
The 661 births were notified as follows: —
Notified by midwives 275
Notified by doctors and parents 362
" Un-notified " 24
661