London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Richmond upon Thames 1971
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Richmond]
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Deliveries attended by Domiciliary Midwives
| Number of domiciliary confinements attended by midwives under N.H.S. arrangements. | Number of cases delivered in hospitals and other institutions but discharged and attended by domiciliary midwives before 10th day | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) |
| Doctor not booked | Doctor booked | Total | |
| — | 222 | 222 | 509 |
This table relates to women delivered, and not, in the case of multiple births, to infants.
All midwives in the domiciliary midwifery service have been advised that patients,
who are to have a domiciliary confinement, should be referred to their family doctor
either for booking or for the latter to refer the patient to a practitioner on the obstetric
list.
The majority of discharges before the tenth day were planned.
Visits by Domiciliary Midwives
| A total of 11,566 visits were made by midwives as follows: — | |
| Ante-natal | 2,820 |
| During labour | 459 |
| Nursing, following domiciliary confinement | 2,339 |
| Nursing, following institutional discharge | 4,158 |
| Home conditions reports | 898 |
| Others | 892 |
| Total | 11,566 |
Notification of intention to practise
Under the rules of the Central Midwives Board, 15 midwives notified their intention
to practise within the Borough. Fourteen of these were the Council's domiciliary
wives; the other a domiciliary midwife practising privately.
Medical Aid
| Medical aid was required for 49 patients as follows: — | ||||||
| During Pregnancy | Infant | In Labour | Puerperium | |||
| Mild Toxaemia 1 | Sticky eyes | 4 | Premature | Engorged | ||
| Anaemia 1 | Jaundice | 2 | Libour | 2 | breasts | 1 |
| Thrush | 3 | Delay in Labour | Puerperal | |||
| ?Congenital | (1st stage) | 1 | sepsis | 1 | ||
| malformation | 2 | Delay in Labour | Pyrexia | 1 | ||
| Coryza | 3 | (2nd stage) | 2 | Subinvolution | 3 | |
| Feeding | Ruptured | Raised blood | ||||
| problems | 2 | perineum | 8 | pressure | 1 | |
| Abnormal | Post-partum | Thrombo | ||||
| respiration | 1 | haemorrhage | 2 | phlebitis | 2 | |
| Early ruptured | Haemorrhoids | 1 | ||||
| membranes | 1 | Secondary | ||||
| post-partum | ||||||
| haemorrhage | 2 | |||||
| Anaemia | 1 | |||||
| Depression | 1 | |||||