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83
of the Home, which hitherto had been used by the nursing staff as
sleeping quarters, as an extra ward and second labour room, and it
was estimated that the cost of this work together with the provision
of the necessary furniture, would total £1370, to which proposal
the Ministry of Health have now given their final approval. The
nurses' sleeping quarters would be transferred to the available accommodation
at No. 105, Shooters Hill Road which is the Council's
Welfare Centre opposite the Home.
I shall hope, therefore, in my report for 1926 to be able to
state that the capacity of the Home is 22 patients, and that this
extra accommodation has been fully taken advantage of by the
mothers of Greenwich.
The total amount of fees received from patients during the
year was £1,411 18s. 6d., whilst £43 2s. was received from pupil
midwives.
Pre-Maternity Clinics.—During the year there have been
very welcome signs of increased demand for Ante-Natal facilities
and the extra Ante-Natal Clinic at Conduit House was opened in
April.

It is pleasing to be able to report that with a few exceptions,
the whole of the patients who booked for the Maternity Home,
attended the Ante-Natal Clinics as often as was necessary, and to
this reason one can confidently attribute to a large extent the consistently
satisfactory results associated with the Home.
In former reports I have laid special stress upon the importance
of Ante-Natal care, and I make no apology for including in this
report the following extract from a paper read by Dr. Henry Russell
Andrews, M.B., B.S., F.R.C.P., Senior Obstetric Physician to the
London Hospital.
"Whether as general practitioners or as obstetric members of
hospital staffs, we all have one object in view, viz. diminishing the
difficulties and dangers of childbirth. 'Obstetrics' is the art of
standing by in case you are wanted, and is one of the most important
branches of preventive medicine. If it could be carried out in an
ideal manner the number of abortions would be greatly reduced,