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42
In addition to the above, the Metropolitan District Nursing Association also undertook
the necessary nursing arising in connection with 122 cases, chiefly maternity or tuberculosis,
and children's complaints, and to these 1,134 visits were paid.
Home Helps.
This term is used to describe women who have received a certain amount of training
in domestic work, including the care of young children. They are provided for necessitous
families where the mother is incapacitated on account of sickness or child-birth.
The management is in the hands of a Voluntary Committee, on which the Council is
represented by two members.
An annual grant of £150 is made by the Borough Council for use in respect of
maternity cases only.
Two permanent "Helps" were employed throughout the year, and 11 temporary
"Helps" for emergency cases.
101 applications were received and 84 cases were dealt with during the year, 80
being maternity and 4 sickness cases.
The above figures show a decrease in the amount of work carried out as compared
with the previous year, during which 116 cases were dealt with, 93 being maternity and 23
sickness cases. The fall in the number of sickness cases is noteworthy as it is in these cases
that the services of a Home Help are generally of such great value. Illness is usually sudden
and unexpected and help is urgently needed; in maternity cases the requirements are known
in advance and due provision can often be made.
Midwives.
In the Metropolis, the supervising authority for midwives is the London County
Council. According to figures supplied by that authority, the number of midwives who, in
1932, had notified their intention to practise in St. Pancras was 42. Only 10 of this number
are engaged in private practice, the remainder are on the staff of various hospitals and
institutions in the Borough.
Private midwives are not subsidised by the Borough Council, but a subsidy is paid
for each approved necessitous case attended in the patient's home by midwives on the staff of
certain hospitals and by midwives employed by the Maternity Nursing Association,
The subsidy is not paid in cases where "Maternity benefit" is payable under the
National Health Insurance Act.
Midwifery.
There are a large number of institutions, situated either within or near the Borough,
which provide midwifery attendance, either at the patient's home or by admission as
in-patients,