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67
SECTION VII.
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Following the Notification of Births (Extension) Act, 1915, a
modest Scheme for Maternity and Child Welfare was brought into
operation and in 1919 a more ambitious one embracing all the
activities made possible by the passing of the Maternity and Child
Welfare Act, 1918, outlined in Circular M. & C.W. 4, was formulated
.
Without the provision of a lying-in Hospital or day Nurseries,
a considerable amount of work is carried out under all the other
headings embraced by the Regulations issued for paying of Grants.
There are now in operation two Centres for Child Welfare work
and one for Ante-Natal.
Five whole time fully qualified nurses are employed and two
doctors give at least seventeen hours weekly to consultations and
treatment. Home Helps are paid for by the Council and Milk
supplied to necessitous Mothers and Children.
The Council's Centre—situated in a turning off the main Street
in the High Street Ward is convenient and accessible for the majority
of those attending.
The Premises are not very suitable for the work carried out. A
large Church Hall of corrugated iron, indifferently constructed,
very draughty and used for all kinds of social services does not
lend itself to conversion on three half-days weekly for the work
carried out by the Council, even were the accommodation ample.
The room used for consultation is a mere lobby and the whole
place, as to cleanliness and the makeshift arrangements for dressing,
undressing and weighing babies, creates a bad impression on the
mothers, and complaints from the Voluntary Workers are constant.
It is to be hoped that at the very earliest date, the Ministry will
give its sanction to the erection and equipment of a place which
will be suitable in all respects for the work already in operation
and that adumbrated in previous reports.
Ante-Natal Clinic.—During the year the number of pregnant
women seeking advice was 242; these making 360 attendances.
The number of births coming to the knowledge of the Medical
Officer of Health, under the Notification of Births Act, 1915, was
914 by Midwives, 880 by Doctors and 49 by Parents, and the Stillbirths
were—12 notified by Midwives and 21 by Doctors.
The total births within the Area were 2,131, so that the requirements
of the Act were primarily 86 per cent. fulfilled.