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As far as pregnant women are concerned our experience is
that they often want general advice on the care of their own health,
and the various preparations necessary for childbirth, which advice
could very suitably be given by properly qualified Health Visitors.
Special cases such as are likely to require operative treatment
before or at childbirth would be referred to me, and should I find
that this is so I could give them a recommendation card for Guy's
Hospital where a certain number of beds are reserved for this purpose
with the necessary staff. I have been in communication with
the hospital authorities on this matter and have received an assurance
that they will be prepared to co-operate on these lines as far
as their accommodation permits. Should their beds be full the
patients could be referred to special hospitals further away such as
Waterloo Road or Chelsea. From inquiries I also learn that the
children's department at Guy's Hospital and the Evelina Hospital
for Children would undertake the treatment of children recommended
to them by us. The idea of the Local Government Board
is that for infants and young children medical advice, and where
necessary, treatment should be continuously available till they are
entered on the school register, when they come under the purview
of the School Medical Officer. For this purpose proper medical
records would have to be kept, which could be passed on later to
the school authorities. As there are some voluntary institutions
including the Extern Department of Guy's Hospital doing maternity
and child welfare work in Bermondsey, I propose supplying them
with similar record sheets or cards to our own and when they are
filled up collecting them and passing them on to the School Medical
Officer. This would produce co-operation between the municipal
and voluntary agencies and prevent overlapping of work. Closer
co-operation could also be insured by instructing the Health Visitors
to send women and children needing advice or treatment to the
nearest maternity centre whether municipal or voluntary.
The chief difficulty would be to get hold of prospective mothers,
and I think this can be got over by sending a circular letter to doctors
and midwives informing them that should any of their cases require
advice we would be prepared to give it. Health Visitors also, if
their districts is not too large often come across or hear of pregnant
women from neighbours and others, so I do not anticipate
any dearth of subjects in this department of our work.