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27
MIDWIFERY
It is the Council's duty to provide an adequate domiciliary midwifery
service and this is carried out through the midwives employed directly by the
Council and by the Mother's Hospital, who provide a quota of midwives on an
agency basis. The number of midwives employed in this service at 31st December,
1966, were:-
Borough Council 6.5
Mother's Hospital 4
10. 5

The number of confinements continues to drop, it being 669 in 1965, but
the number of patients discharged from maternity hospitals to their home before
the tenth day of the early lying-in period increased from 149. Each year more
mothers are asking to be discharged 48 hours after delivery; this means that
Domiciliary midwives are being called upon to visit nursing mothers who had
their confinements in hospital. In some parts of London hospitals have been
obliged to discharge mothers before the tenth day in order to meet the demand
for maternity beds. Fortunately there has been no need to introduce a planned
early discharge scheme in this area and the domiciliary service has always been
able to meet requests for early discharge.
I am concerned that the majority of women book in the fifth or sixth month
of pregnancy in spite of extensive health education. All expectant mothers
should try to have their first medical examination in the second or third month
of pregnancy even if it is the second or subsequent baby.
EMERGENCY SERVICE
If a midwife is required urgently outside office hours one can be obtained
by telephoning 985-1214 which is manned by staff at Hackney Hospital 24 hours
a day.
CARE OF PREMATURE BABIES
The number of premature babies born in the Borough during the year was
477, twenty less than in 1965. Of these, 54 were stillborn. By far the
greater number were born in hospital, only 32 being born at home. It is now
well recognised that when a mother goes into premature labour before the thirty-