[Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, Aberdeen City.

  • Aberdeen (Scotland). City Council.
Date:
1955
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, Aberdeen City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    given wool to make garments for the baby. Where a mother is entitled to receive Maternity Benefit, a charge of not less than £2 is made for a complete layette. (vii) Arrangements for Care of Unmarried Mothers. (i) Aberdeen Mother and Baby Home. For a number of years the Corporation have had a standing arrangement with the Aberdeen Mother and Baby Home, Richmondhill House, King’s Gate, which is conducted by a voluntary association. Under this arrangement, accommodation is provided for expectant unmarried mothers, and the Corporation pay thirty-five shillings per week towards the maintenance of each woman whom they send to the Home. The women may be admitted and discharged at any time, but the Corpora- tion’s responsibility is limited to a period of six weeks before the expected date of confinement and four months thereafter. Women are not confined at the Home but at the Maternity Hospital. During the year, the Corporation accepted responsibility for seven women admitted to the Home. (ii) Salvation Army Homes. Arrangements have also been made under which certain expectant unmarried mothers are sent by the Corporation to Salvation Army Homes in either Dundee or Glasgow. The payment made by the Corporation is 14s. per week for six weeks before the expected date of confinement, and 24s. per week for four months there- after. During the year, one woman was sent to a Salvation Army Home. The total number of illegitimate births for the City during the year under review was 172, as compared with 140 in 1954, 138 in 1953, and 172 in 1952. (b) CHILD WELFARE. (i) Child Welfare Centres. Certain general points may first be mentioned— (a) The scope of a child welfare clinic has widened appreciably, and now includes far more than just advice on physical health. (b) As in most other areas, the public demand for child welfare clinics is continuing to increase: the total number of children attending clinics has increased each year from 1952 to 1955. (c) The development of new housing areas on the periphery of the town is making the provision of peripheral clinics an increasing necessity: the fact that in 1955 (while the number of children over the age of one year attending the clinics increased sharply) the number of babies under one year attending actually fell slightly, tells its own story. Only about 75 per cent, of babies were brought to clinics, because clinics were inconveniently situated for many mothers. (d) The mobile clinic (although valuable) having proved inadequate to meet the need for new clinics, the Corporation proceeded with the erection of clinics at Holburn and Northfield, although neither was completed