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68
BIRTH CONTROL CLINIC.
Fortnightly sessions of this clinic were held throughout the
year. 311 women, of whom 92 attended for the first time, made
a total of 327 attendances.
In addition there were six cases to whom no advice was given
as there were no medical grounds justifying such action.
MIDWIVES ACTS, 1902-1926.
The number of midwives who, during the year, notified their
intention to practise in this district was 57. Of these eight removed
from the district or discontinued practice, leaving 49 in practice
at the end of the year. Of the total number 28 were resident in
the district and carried on a domiciliary practice almost entirely
limited to this area; 16 were engaged in local maternity homes,
most of them entirely, though a few also carrying on a very limited
domiciliary practice; and 13 were resident in adjoining areas but
attended some cases in this district.
The number of births attended in the district by midwives who
gave notice of their intention to practise was 1,654. In 851 cases
the midwife was in attendance as a midwife and in the remaining
803 as a maternity nurse. Of the confinements occurring in private
houses in the district 1,211 were attended by local midwives whose
practice is limited to domiciliary work (725 as midwives and 410 as
maternity nurses) and 76 by midwives from adjoining areas (41 as
midwives and 35 as maternity nurses).
At the end of the year there were in practice 10 independent
midwives carrying on a domiciliary service. These between them
attended 70 cases during the year, one attending 29 cases, two
between 10 and 20 cases, four under 10 cases, while three did not
attend any.
By the rules of the Central Midwives' Board it is obligatory
on midwives to send a notification to the local supervising authority
in certain circumstances. During the year the following numbers
of notifications were received:—
Sending for medical assistance 277
Still birth 16
Death of Infant 12
Death of Mother —
Laying out the Dead 11
Artificial Feeding 27
Liability to be a Source of Infection 26
Of the 277 summonses to medical practitioners, 39 were on
account of some condition during pregnancy, 70 during labour,
111 in the lying-in period and 57 abnormality of the infant.