London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
St Pancras 1933
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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44
The oases admitted as in-patients represented 48.7 per cent. and those attended at home
23.8 per cent. of the total number of St. Pancras births. As compared with the previous year,
there was a decrease in the number of cases attended at home and an increase in the number
of those admitted as in-patients.
The Borough Council pays a subsidy to certain hospitals for the admission of cases to
their maternity wards, and also pays a subsidy for cases attended at home by midwives on the
staff of certain institutions. No subsidy is paid for cases attended by medical students.
The following table gives the names of the hospitals, etc., and the amount paid during the past year:—
| £ | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Free Hospital | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Queen Charlotte's Hospital | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| City of London Hospital | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Middlesex Hospital | 17 | 5 | 0 |
| University College Hospital | 67 | 15 | 0 |
| Maternity Nursing Association | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| Total | £115 | 5 | 0 |
The corresponding grants for the previous three years were: £174 10s 0d.,
£215 10s. 0d., and £238.
Maternal Mortality.
The following observations and figures have been furnished by Dr. Pritchard, Assistant
Medical Officer.
This subject has recently received considerable publicity and attention. Unfortunately
the term Maternal Mortality has never been definitely defined. Various authorities—the
Registrar-General, the Ministry of Health and the local Public Health Authorities—use it to
mean markedly different groups of deaths. This is an unfortunate state of affairs, because the
use of the term without a definition can be very misleading. An example will explain the
position:—A woman died and the death certificate given was—"Acute Pulmonary (Edema,
Asthma, Recent Puerperium." This death counts as a Maternal Death and so increases the
figure of Maternal Mortality. This figure, therefore, includes deaths which are merely
associated with pregnancy, cases which one cannot include with the figure, which should
represent the common risk run by the average woman who becomes pregnant. There would
be no difficulty if Maternal Mortality always meant this wide group of deaths. Some
authorities, however, use it to mean only those deaths directly due to pregnancy. When a
figure is quoted without a definition it is impossible to know whether the small, select, true
group or the large indefinite group is indicated. Some authorities use the same term to
indicate either the one or the other, and this occurs in the Departmental Report on Maternal
Mortality and Morbidity issued by the Ministry of Health,