[Report 1944] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council.

  • Cumberland (England). County Council.
Date:
1944
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1944] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/62 (page 6)
    e treatment of syphilis by penicillin. Having regard to the length of the waiting list at the Infirmary and the many other urgent claims upon their bed.s, we are due a great debt of gratitude to the Cumberland Infirmary for placing these in-patient facilities at our disposal. In-patient facilities for similar cases are now also to a limited extent available at the Whitehaven Hospital. Mental Illness. Out-patient clinics for mental cases have been started at the Cumberland Infirmary and at the \\'liitehaven and West Cumberland Hospital. These are conducted by the Medical Superintendent of Garlands Mental Hospital. Blood Tests in Ante-natal cases. These have been started in one or two areas of the county with varying success, In Maryport the doctors have co- operated extremely well. In all 75 blood tests have been carried out under this new arrangement and of these 3 were returned as positive, Illegitimate Chiidren. Special attention has been given to the supervision of illegitimate children in accordance with the Ministry’s Circular 28(10. During the year 182 illegitimate children have been kept under close observation. Of these 137 were the children of young unmarried women, 44 were children of married women whose husbands were away frorh home for one reason or another, and in one case the mother was a widow. Special visits and special reports were made on each case at the 0th week, and at the 3rd, (Uh and 12th months. Generally speaking, while the care of a few of these illegitimate children has been somewhat unsatisfactory, one has found little, if an}’, distinction between the care afforded to illegitimate children and the care afforded to legitimate children. The fact is that the illegitimate child, if accepted into the home of the mother’s parents, seems naturally to be allowed to take his or her place in the family life, and to have just the same share of care and affection as is bestowed upon other memlxM’s of the household. I find little to cause anxiety in this matter, which is gratih'ing in the.sc days when child neglect is a matter of national concern and even in certain cases of sensational di.sclosurcs. It may be worth noting that in a number of cases ad\ ice