[Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Northampton County Borough.

78/128

(debug: view other mode)

The image contains the following text:

Maternal and Child Care (<continued) Maternity Homes. There is one registered nursing home and one exempt from registration in the County Borough (see page 25). Twelve visits of inspection were paid by the Assistant Medical Officer. Midwives. 41 midwives were practising in Northampton County Borough on 31st December, 1960, as follows :— Domiciliary (including 2 administrative staff) . 4 St. Edmund’s Maternity Unit .. 8 Barratt. Maternity Home ... 23 Other maternity homes . 6 Total . 41 Administration of Inhalational Analgesics. All the above midwives held a certificate of competence in the use of gas-air analgesic apparatus. Out of the 405 district cases, analgesics were administered in 370 (9T4 per cent.). There are six sets of apparatus for district use. Domiciliary Midwifery. The Northampton Branch of the Queen’s Institute of District Nursing undertake domiciliary midwifery on behalf of the County Borough Council by agreement under Section 23 of the National Health Service Act, 1946. All cases are booked by general practitioner obstetricians. (fable 21 shews the number of domiciliary cases attended by midwives during the last five years). Table 21. Northampton C.B., 1955—1960. Domiciliary Midwifery. YEAR TOTAL CASES ATTENDED YEAR TOTAL CASES ATTENDED 1956 338 1959 405 1957 365 1960 405 1958 368 In Northampton the Queen’s Institute of District Nursing operates an ‘On Call Night Rota’ system. This rota is revised each day and midwives called out during the night are given time off the following day, if this is at all practicable. Ante-natal and Post-natal Work. Domiciliary cases are attended by their family doctor and under the instruction of the doctor the mid¬ wives undertake certain clinical work. There were 156 clinical sessions, when 3,625 attendances were made by 840 expectant mothers. A special clinic attended by the Assistant Medical Officer for Maternity and Child Welfare gives one session a week for special cases:— Ante-natal cases .. 3 Post-natal cases . 1 Blood tests. 1,437