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46
BIRTH CONTROL CLINIC.
Fortnightly sessions of this clinic were held throughout the
year. 245 women, of whom 83 attended for the first time, made
a total of 290 attendances.
In addition there were four 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 46. Of these 15 removed
from the district or discontinued practice, leaving 31 in practice
at the end of the year. Of the total number 21 were resident in
the district and carried on a domiciliary practice almost entirely
limited to this area; 14 were engaged in local maternity homes,
most of them entirely, though a few also carrying on a very limited
domiciliary practice; and 11 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 1,572. In 855
cases the midwife was in attendance as a midwife and in the
remaining 717 as a maternity nurse. Of the confinements occurring
in private houses in the district 1,021 were attended by local
midwives whose practice is limited to domiciliary work (728 as
midwives and 293 as maternity nurses) and 50 by midwives from
adjoining areas (36 as midwives and 14 as maternity nurses).
At the end of the year there were in practice 6 independent
midwives carrying on a domiciliary service. These between them
attended 17 cases during the year, four attending under 10 cases,
while two 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 227
Still birth 14
Death of Infant 10
Death of Mother —
Laying out the Dead 6
Artificial Feeding 21
Liability to be a Source of Infection 7
Of the 227 summonses to medical practitioners, 37 were on
account of some condition during pregnancy, 67 during labour,
90 in the lying-in period, and 33 some abnormality of the infant.