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In addition to the work at the Ante-natal and Post-natal
Centres, 1,451 post-natal cases made 1,967 attendances at the infant
welfare centres and received post-natal advice.
The number of women who attended at the six ante-natal centres
for the first time during the year (784) is equivalent to 26.4 per cent,
of the total births registered in that period. It should be remembered,
however, that a large proportion of the births to Hackney
women occur in hospitals, principally in the Salvation Army
Mothers' Hospital, Clapton, the City of London Maternity Hospital
and the London County Council's local general hospitals (Hackney
and Bethnal Green Hospitals). Women who book to enter these
hospitals for confinement, with the exception of a few who are
admitted as emergency cases, are referred to the ante-natal clinics
established at the hospitals.
Ante-natal sessions are now held three times weekly at the
Hackney Hospital, and I am informed by the Medical Superintendent
that 966 women attended at the ante-natal clinic for the first time
during 1937, the total attendances numbering 5,790. Of the 908
deliveries in the hospital during the year, 780 were to Hackney
women.
Three hundred and fifty-seven births to Hackney mothers were
notified from the Salvation Army Mothers' Hospital in 1937.
A maternity department, comprising a ward of 6 beds, 6 private
rooms and two rooms each containing two beds—a total of 16
beds—and an ante-natal clinic, was instituted at the German
Hospital in April, 1937. One session is held each week in the antenatal
clinic and 146 women attended during the nine months to
December. The number of births occurring in the maternity
department was 111, and 35 of the mothers were residents of
Hackney.