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staff of King's College Hospital. No retaining fee was to be paid to
Dr. Gilliatt. If called in consultation to the Home by Dr. Hill his
fee was to be £5 5s. If an operation was required at the Home he
was to receive twenty guineas, half his usual fee; a charge of forty
guineas would be made in the case of a cæsarean section. If Dr. Hill
and Dr. Gilliatt agreed that the patient could be moved with safety for
operation to King's College Hospital, then no charge would be made
for the operation by Dr. Gilliatt, but the hospital would charge the
Council a maintenance fee of eleven shillings per day for the first
twenty-one days' residence in hospital, provided that in Dr. Hill's
opinion the illness arose out of the confinement. If a case is removed
from the Home to King's College Hospital, at the instigation of
Drs. Hill and Gilliatt, the Borough Council will not be asked to pay if,
after observation of the case, and either after or without an operation,
it is ascertained that the illness had nothing to do with the confinement.
In such latter cases the husband would have to make his own arrangements
with the hospital as to payment. These points are made quite
clear to applicants for admission to the Home, the facts being stated on
the application form, and the following is agreed to by the applicant:—
" In the event of a patient while in the Council's Home contracting
any illness or disease not associated with the confinement, the cost of
any treatment incurred by reason of such patient having to be transferred
from the Home to a general or special hospital is not included in the
fee charged by the Council, and I fully recognise that any charge made
under such circumstances by a Hospital is a matter to be settled by
me direct with the Hospital concerned."
The Ministry of Health agreed to a maximum expenditure of
£25 a year in connection with the expenditure involved relatively to
Dr. Gilliatt. As will be seen below, this expenditure has never been
incurred. The applications for admission to the Maternity Home are
made in the first place at the Ante-Natal centre where a form is obtained.
When filled in they are considered carefully by the ladies Sub-Committee
which latter comprises the lady members of the Council. The duties
of this Sub-Committee were framed as follows :—
To interview applicants and determine their fitness for admission
to the Maternity Home: to assess payments in respect thereof:
to appoint a rota of ladies to visit the Home periodically : to report
decisions arrived at on the above matter (to the Maternity and Child