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Consultants. Three consultants are available in respect of
puerperal fever cases. During- 1937 their services were called upon
on three occasions.
NATAL WORK.
Notification of Births Act, 1907. As from October 1st,
1937, notification was carried out under sec. 203 of the Public
Health Act, 1936. A few particulars of the notifications
of births received during the year, and of the patients to
which they referred, are given in the following statement. It
should be noted that the figures for notifications do not agree very
closely with the figures for births given in the section of this
report which deals with vital statistics. The discrepancy is due
partly to the fact that many notifications referred to women who
were not ordinarily resident in West Ham, and partly to other
factors. For accurate work the figures for births registered
should be used.
Total number of births notified during 1937 5,809
Total number of livebirths notified during 1937 5,605
Total number of stillbirths notified during 1937 204
Number of birth notified by midwives 4,510
Number of births notified by doctors and
parents 1,299
5,809
Total number of births occurring in maternity
hospitals in the borough 3,128
Total number of births in nursing homes in
the borough 17
Total number of births occurring at home 2,383
Total number of births notified by outside
authorities 281
5,809
There are three large maternity hospitals in West Ham
admitting patients from West Ham and adjacent areas, viz.,
Queen Mary's Hospital for the East End, Stratford, E.15;
Plaistow Maternity Hospital, Howards Road, Plaistow, E.13;
and the maternity wards of Forest Gate Hospital, Forest Lane,
E.7. Subsidies are granted by the Council to the two voluntary
maternity hospitals in respect of the treatment at confinement of
approved cases.
There is one nursing home in the borough which admits
maternity cases; 17 women were confined in this home during 1937.
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