[Report 1950] / Medical Officer of Health, West Lothian County Council.

  • West Lothian (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1950] / Medical Officer of Health, West Lothian County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mortality rate, has been declining much less rapidly, though more steadily, than the latter. A position may soon be reached where the infant mortality rate becomes lower than the still-birth rate. Indeed, in one or two areas in Scotland infant deaths in 1950 were fewer than still-births. . CARE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN Child welfare clinic attendances throughout the County amounted to 12,230, an increase of 2363 over the previous year’s total of 9867. All except three of the 16 clinics are now attended by a local practitioner as well as by the district health visitor. The mother who takes her child to the local clinic is assured of sound guidance on feeding, clothing, and general care, and also, in most cases, of medical advice on minor disorders and developmental defects. The value of this service cannot be overstressed. Provision of cheap or free milk and vitamins in the form of orange juice and A & D tablets, distributed under the Government’s scheme, again showed a decrease in 1950. A welfare food demonstration, fully reported in the local Press, was given in Linlithgow in November and the mothers heard an interesting talk by Provost Lamb. It is diffi- cult to account for this further drop in the figures ; the difficulty of synchronising distribution with the days and hours of child welfare clinics stiil remains, and may be one of the chief reasons why the uptake is so disappointingly low. DOMICILIARY MIDWIFERY All of the 870 births (including still-births) occurring at home, were dealt with by the local authority’s midwives or by private mid- wives in contract with the local authority, and in all except five of the cases a doctor was also engaged to give maternity services. The co- operation between doctor and midwife in this domiciliary service has been very satisfactory. The number of home confinements was slightly higher than last year, but there was also a correspondingly greater in- crease in hospital confinements, the percentage of these to the total b'rths within the County being 46, compared with 44% in 1949. In- creased staffing of beds in Bangour Maternity Unit has made possible this slight tendency towards a preference for hospital confinement, and an improvement in the general housing situation has no doubt con- tributed to the maintenance of home confinement at a high level. The use of gas and air analgesia came into operation for the first time in 1950. Twenty midwives are now qualified to use the apparatus, nine of them having received training during the year ; the gas was administered in 33 cases. Six sets of apparatus are in use and a further six are on order. It is worthy of note that the drug pethidine has similar effects in easing the pains of childbirth, and there appears to Le a