[Report 1953] / Medical Officer of Health, Denbighshire County Council.

  • Denbighshire (Wales). County Council. no2004062613.
Date:
1953
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1953] / Medical Officer of Health, Denbighshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/88 (page 10)
    MATERNAL MORTALITY The maternal deaths that occurred during 1953 stress most forcibly the need for complete and competent ante-natal care. Despite the provision of efficient services, it is regrettable that some mothers fail to benefit from them, either due to misguided advice or mere indifference. Culprits in this respect only too frecjuently are the grandmothers, whose ideas on child-bearing seem to be derived from mediaeval times. The situation is further aggravated by the lack of co-ordination between the various health services responsible for ante-natal care. The dilatory at- tendance of a mother at an ante-natal clinic should be the con- cern of those who have accepted responsibility lor the patient, and strenuous efforts should be made to ensure that despite the mother’s apathy, her health throughout this trying period is maintained at peak level. Those attending a Local Health Auth- ority ante-natal clinic are constantly supervised both at home and at the clinic, but I doubt whether such efforts are made by the other services. A few medical practitioners openly advise parents not to attend the Local Health Authority clinics, irrespective of the high tradition maintained in this field by the maternity and child welfare services of this County. Surely, such terms as consulta- tion, collaboration and co-operation confuse rather than correct the situation. The following tables shows the maternal mortality rate in Denbighshire for the past ten years. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1944] 1945119f6119471194811949] 1950 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1951 1952 1953 1 1 1 1 1, 1 ! Maternal Mortality [ 1.01 2,5 | 2.61 1.41 0.9] 1.31 1.4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.5 .36 1.5