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seeking admission to the Council's Maternity Home are examined here
before booking, and only those cases which will probably be normal are
accepted. They subsequently attend for a routine examination at
intervals as may be considered necessary by the doctor. Detailed
instructions are given as to diet, clothing, and the hygiene of pregnancy,
patterns of baby clothing being supplied by the Health Visitor, who
gives short talks to the mothers who are waiting their turn to see
the doctor.
Besides those intending to enter the Maternity Home, many
expectant mothers attend this clinic, the patients being:
(a) Those who have made no arrangements and who ask
advice as to the best course to follow in their special circumstances.
(b) Those intending to enter the Deptford and Greenwich
Hospital. As there is no out-patient department to the hospital,
ante-natal supervision is given to these mothers at the clinic.
Patients requiring medical or surgical treatment are promptly
admitted to the hospital whenever necessary.
(c) Those who have booked with midwives. If the patient
brings a letter or card from the midwife, a written reply is always
sent by the doctor, stating the nature of any abnormality found
and advising the midwife how to deal with the matter. Midwives
occasionally come with their patients.
(d) Patients who have booked with a doctor very rarely
attend the clinic (about 5 per cent. of our total); but if they do
they are told that their own doctor is the person to whom they
should go for advice. As a rule such patients state that they have
never been examined and they wish to know whether everything
is satisfactory. In such circumstances they are examined
once only at the Ante-natal Clinic, and if any abnormality is found
they are urged to go at once to their doctor. They are given the
usual instruction by the Health Visitor as to baby clothing, etc.
A register is kept of patients who have attended the Ante-natal
Clinic and a note is made of the dates on which they are advised to come
again. If they fail to attend, the Health Visitor calls at the home to
enquire whether anything is wrong, and takes the opportunity of giving
advice where it is needed.
7. The work of the Health Visitors. The duties of a Health
Visitor are more numerous and much more arduous than is generally
supposed. They include ante-natal visiting; visiting of infants under
the Notification of Births Act; re-visiting at intervals of all children
up to five years of age: reporting sanitary defects; following up of
special cases seen at the Infant Welfare Centres; following up of