[Report 1940-1941] / Medical Officer of Health, Surrey County Council.

  • Surrey (England). County Council.
Date:
1941
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1940-1941] / Medical Officer of Health, Surrey County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1] (15) Prevention and Treatment of Crippling. The County Council’s Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme provides for the out-patient treatment of orthopaedic defects at ten Orthopaedic Clinics and for Institutional treatment at the St. Nicholas Orthopaedic Hospital, Pyrford. Fifteen children were admitted for Institutional treatment in each of the years 1940 and 1941, as compared with 22 during 1939. Details of the Orthopaedic Centres and the number of children under five years of age treated at each Centre are given in the following table :— Centre. 1040. 1941. Aldershot and Famborougli Curative Post 2 2 Croydon General Hospital ... 25 26 East Grinstead Curative Post 2 3 Farnham Curative Post 9 5 Guildford, Royal Surrey County Hospital 34 23 Kingston, Red Cross Curative Post 79 88 Merton, Nelson Hospital — 6 Redhill County Hospital — 8 Weybridge : Locke-King Clinic 50 45 Woking : Red Cross Curative Post 55 34 Totals ... 256 240 (16) Infant Life Protection. The following foster mothers and foster children were known to be in the Council’s Maternity and Child Welfare Area on 31st December, 1940 and 1941 :— 1940. 1 1 1941. Foster mothers 319 342 Foster children 502 481 Visits made by Health Visitors 6,337 6,420 (17) The following table shows the attendances and total number of children who were in attendance at the Welfare Centres at the end of the two years under review :— Children under One Year. Children One Five Years. Total number of children who were in attendance at end of year. Year. New Cases. Total Attend¬ ances. New Cases. Total Attend¬ ances. Children under one year. Children be¬ tween one and five years. Total. 1940 1941 8,018 7,216 86,608 84,527 3,549 3,927 95,022 78,878 5,305 5,762 14,664 15,989 19,969 21,751 (18) Evacuation. The Annual Report for 1939 contained a brief note on the increase in the work of the Maternity and Child Welfare Service caused by the Evacuation of many mothers and young children to reception areas in the County. Apart from the home visiting by Health \ isitors of expectant and nursing mothers and children under five years of age, and the increase in sessions at certain Ante-Natal Clinics and Welfare Centres, two' Emergency Maternity Homes were opened at the request of the Ministry of Health, and other accommodation arranged to meet the great demand for maternity beds. During 1940 and in the early part of 1941, seven more Emergency Maternity Homes were opened, giving a total of 225 beds in all these Homes. Twelve Ante- and Post-^Natal Hostels have now been established, with accommodation for 274 expectant and/or nursing mothers. Expectant mothers come to these Hostels approximately one month before the confinement is due and remain there until labour commences. On leaving the Maternity Homes, mothers are given the opportunity of staying a fortnight in one of the Post-Natal Hostels, so that they may recover their strength fully before returning home or to billets. From the opening of the Emergency Maternity Homes, until 31st December, 1941, 2,684 expectant mothers were admitted ; of these 19 were transferred elsewhere before delivery, and 2,525 were delivered in the Homes. Of the total admissions, 20 mothers were delivered by Ctesarian Section, 83 by instrumental means, and in 15 cases the placenta was manually removed ; labour was induced medicinally in 104 cases and surgically in 100 cases, I here were three maternal deaths. Of 2,548 births, 61 (23.9 per 1,000 births) were stillborn, and 32 (12.6 per 1,000 births) died before discharge, giving a combined foetal and infant mortality rate of 36.5 per 1,000 births.