View report page

22
SECTION 22 - CARE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
The National Health Service Act, 1945, forms the basis of the majority of
the personal health services.
Section 22 requires every local health authority to make arrangements for
the care of expectant and nursing mothers and all children who have not attained
the age of five years.
The aim of the maternal and child welfare element of the Department is to
promote the health and welfare of all mothers whether they be confined at home
or in hospital, and of their young children, although the pattern of the service
is constantly changing to meet present day needs.
The high birthrate and the need to provide still better facilities is making
more demands than ever before on the hospital and domiciliary maternity services.
Fortunately, in this Borough, facilities are available for 88 per cent of
mothers to have their babies in hospital. For those women, however, who must,
or prefer to, have their babies at home, the Council employs midwives directly,
and it also has an arrangement whereby the Mothers' Hospital provides domiciliary
service on an agency basis.
As far as young children are concerned, it must be remembered that although
thanks to the good medical service in this country and the general improvement
in housing - 98.5 per cent of children born are splendid, healthy babies, 1.5
per cent of all babies born, who survive the dangers of the first few weeks of
life, have suffered some potential danger, such as birth injury, prematurity,
or dangers from certain blood diseases. In order to diagnose a possible handicap
at the earliest moment, these babies will need constant surveillance so
that steps may be taken either to remedy or minimise its effect.
The foremost worker in this latter category is the health visitor, who, in
the new concept of her training, has been educated to look for precisely these
signs of early danger.
ANTE-NATAL AND POST-NATAL CLINICS
There was a drop in the birth-rate in 1965 over the high level of previous
years and this, combined with the high percentage of institutional confinements
in the Borough, made it possible to reduce the number of weekly ante-natal
sessions run by this Authority by two.
There is a tendency at present for more expectant mothers to receive their
ante-natal and post-natal care from a general practitioner obstetrician. Many
of the women receiving ante-natal care from their G.P.O., or their own doctor,
are willing to attend mothercraft and relaxation classes at the local authority
centres. Facilities are provided for general practitioner obstetricians
to work from centres of their own choice and 11 are doing so.