Happy birthdays / The National Birthday Trust Fund.

  • National Birthday Trust Fund (Great Britain)
Date:
[between 1950 and 1959?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Happy birthdays / The National Birthday Trust Fund. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    IS THE RELIEF PROVIDED UNDER THE HEALTH SERVICE ACT ? The National Health Service Act, 1946, provides for a free maternity service open to all mothers. The Act does not make any specific provision for analgesia, but the local health authorities, who admin- ister the Act, have been encouraged by the Ministry of Health to arrange for the machines and means of transport for the universal provision of gas and air. WHY DO NOT ALL MOTHERS GET THE RELIEF AT PRESENT ? There is no doubt that the present position is still unsatisfactory in some areas, and not as many mothers as should do are getting relief in childbirth. The reasons are various. There are still undoubtedly cases where callousness or indifference, or a poor understanding of the need for relief on the part of those attending mothers in childbirth, are responsible for unnecessary suffering. This it not only the case where confinements take place at home, but can also occur in hospital. A mother who is having certain forms of analgesia cannot safely be left alone, and shortage of staff may not permit the close supervision that is necessary, so no attempt to provide any relief is made. The majority of confinements are conducted by midwives, who can under the Rules of the Central Midwives’ Board, give nearly as much analgesic relief as doctors, provided they have received the necessary training. Some midwives, however, have still not received the necessary training in analgesia, and though they have been trained to give gas and air they may not have the means of transporting the machine. Transport is a serious problem, since the apparatus for gas and air analgesia is heavy. A large part of the weight is made up by the cylinders which hold the gas. As several cylinders may be needed, the problem of transport becomes even more difficult. However, the intro- duction of trilene analgesia will help to solve the transport problem, as the trilene apparatus is much lighter than the gas and air. When sufficient machines have been made and distributed to the midwifery services throughout the country, mothers will be able to avail them- selves of this type of pain relief, provided it is regarded as a suitable drug for them, in the opinion of the doctor who examined them in the ante-natal period. HOW CAN WE HELP TO GET MORE RELIEF FOR MOTHERS ? The public should realise that there is still a wide variation in the rates of administration of gas and air analgesia and pethidine. Women should demand relief in childbirth in all cases where the mother desires it and there is no medical reason against it, and they should make this demand known by every means possible until all unnecessary suffering is abolished. Printed by Merritt & Hatcher, Ltd., London and High Wycombe.
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