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81
MATERNITY SERVICES.
The facilities offered to mothers, expectant or parturient,
include :—
Ante-Natal:—Ante-natal supervision by home visiting; antenatal
clinics; general practitioners' ante-natal scheme; consultant
ante-natal clinic; consultation at the home in exceptional cases;
provision of milk; dental treatment, including provision of dentures
; ophthalmic treatment ; and artificial sunlight treatment.
At Confinement:—Payment of midwife's fees in necessitous
cases; home helps; maternity sets; consultation in cases of
difficult labour; emergency maternity outfit; institutional accommodation;
and ambulance for removal of women in labour.
Post-Natal:—Post-natal examination at the clinics, including
consultant clinic; provision of milk to nursing mothers; dental
treatment; artificial sunlight treatment; convalescent homes;
home nursing; provision of consultations for cases of puerperal
infection, and institutional treatment for such cases.
ANTE-NATAL SUPERVISION.
Home Visiting.
During the year the health visitors paid a total of 1,114 visits
to 700 expectant mothers. One of the repercussions of the operation
of the Midwives Act will be the subtraction of ante-natal care from
the duties of health visitors.
Ante-natal Clinics.
At the beginning of the year nine weekly ante-natal sessions
were held at six separate premises, one maintained by the Council
of Child Welfare, the remainder by the Council. The attendances
at the session at St. Hilda's Hall became too large and, as no other
suitable premises were available, a session was opened in a private
house in Corbins Lane. Though, because of the limited accommodation,
the numbers attending had to be kept down, the arrangements
proved a useful supplement to the other clinics. On
accommodation becoming available in November at Walton Avenue,
however, this clinic was closed. The Council, in April, took over
the services maintained by the Council of Child Welfare, including
the ante-natal clinic, and since July this session has been held at
the clinic at 76, Marlborough Hill. A new fortnightly ante-natal
clinic was opened at the Methodist Church Hall, Love Lane, Pinner,
towards the end of the year. At the end of the year, then, there
were, in the district, ten weekly and one fortnightly ante-natal
clinics held at eight separate addresses. Since the inception of the
midwifery service, ante-natal clinics have been staffed by one midwife
and one health visitor, instead of as formerly by two health
visitors. F