[Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, North Riding of Yorkshire County Council.

  • North Riding of Yorkshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1962
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, North Riding of Yorkshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/80 (page 17)
    Deliveries attended by midwives employed by the County Council during 1962 :— Doctor not booked Doctor booked Doctor present Doctor not Doctor present Doctor not Total at time of present at time at time of present at time delivery of of delivery delivery of of delivery Child of child child of child 14 69 535 1,785 2,403 During the year, 655 mothers, delivered in hospital, were attended by domiciliary midwives after discharge before the tenth day, an increase of 104 on the previous year. Too many women pregnant for the 5th, 6th or 7th time do not go to hospital but have their babies at home. It is in this group that most maternal deaths occur ; practitioners and midwives have difficulty in persuading these multiparae to go to hospital, but these women together with those having their first baby should have priority on medical grounds. Ante-natal supervision is provided by medical officers and midwives at the ante¬ natal clinics and at certain infant welfare centres, as well as at special midwives’ clinics ; in addition, those midwives who are booked by expectant mothers who don't attend clinics, visit their patients at intervals. There is, on the whole, good co-operation between county midwives and general practitioners who undertake domiciliary mid¬ wifery under the maternity medical services scheme. A large percentage of women who wish to have a domiciliary delivery are booking their doctor under these arrangements Notification of Intention to Practice. It is the duty of every midwife who wishes to practice in the area of a local super¬ vising authority to notify that authority each year of her intention to do so ; the following table shows the number who registered during the year 1962 in various categories (figures for preceding year in brackets). No. of Employed by Engaged in private Employed by Hospital Management Midwives the County Council practice Committees *173 113 4 48 *(168) (111) (2) (48) * Included in the total are 8 midwives employed at the Military Families Hospital at Catterick Camp. Medical Aid Records. The Central Midwives Board is empowered by statute to make rules regulating supervision and restricting, within due limits, the practice of midwives. A midwife acting as such, or as a maternity nurse, is obliged to observe these rules. One of the most inportant of these rules is that she must send for medical aid in all cases of illness of the patient or child or for any abnormality occurring during pregnancy, labour or lying-in period. The following table shows the nature of some of the reports sent in by the county midwives, district nurse/midwives, independent midwives and midwives employed in maternity homes or nursing homes during the period under review as compared with the previous five years :—