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39
midwife was in attendance as a midwife and in the remaining 501 as a
maternity nurse. Of the confinements occurring in private houses in the
district, 1,138 were attended by local midwives whose practice is limited
to domiciliary work (894 as midwives and 244 maternity nurses) and 26
by midwives from adjoining areas (20 as midwives and 6 as maternity
nurses).
At the end of the year there were in practice 3 independent midwives
carrying on a domiciliary service, these between them attending 19 cases
during the year.
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 311
Still birth 11
Death of Infant 13
Death of Mother —
Laying out the Dead 7
Artificial Feeding 8
Liability to be a Source of Infection 19
Of the 311 summonses to medical practitioners, 39 were on account
of some condition during pregnancy, 80 during labour, 130 in the lying-in
period, and 62 some abnormality of the infant.
Of the 39 summonses to a patient during pregnancy 9 were because
of albuminuria, oedema, or toxaemia, and 17 because of haemorrhage.
Of the 80 summonses to a patient during labour the reason given
in 57 instances was delayed labour with cause unspecified. In a further
12 there was some abnormal presentation. Nine summonses were to
patients suffering from abortion (actual or threatened).
90 of the 130 summonses to patients in the puerperium were on
account of rupture of the perineum. Post-partum haemorrhage, with or
without adherence of the placenta was the reason in 16, a raised temperature
in 10, phlebitis 7, and inflamed breast 13.
Of the 62 summonses to infants, 26 were on account of some discharge
from the eye, 14 because of feebleness or asphyxia and 15 some other
abnormal state or condition.
311 out of 875 midwifery cases attended is a percentage rate of 35-5
The corresponding figure in 1940 was 30-5.
MIDWIFERY SERVICES.
1 he number of patients attended by Council's midwives was 875 in
which they acted as midwives and 197 in which they acted as maternity
nurses, a total of 1,072. Although this figure is the same as last year,
because of the smaller number of confinements that have occurred
amongst mothers in the district, a higher proportion of the total number
°f births which have taken place have been attended by the Council's
midwives.
Of the patients to be attended by midwives acting as midwives, 303
were assessed to pay the full amount, in 190 cases no charge was made,