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45
AUXILIARY HOME SERVICES.
Service of Home Helps.—During the year a service
of Home Helps was inaugurated to help with the work of
the home during the mother's confinement at home.
Women approved by the Medical Officer of Health attend
for a specified number of hours each day, according to the
needs in the home, and are paid at a rate fixed by the
Borough Council. The families are assessed according to
a scale of income fixed by the Council. This service in
no way interferes with the duties and responsibilities of the
midwife, the home help's duties being the care of the
children, marketing, the cooking and serving of meals,
cleaning and washing. The home help only attends for
two weeks immediately following the confinement. Exceptional
circumstances and urgent cases, on application,
receive the special consideration of the Maternity and Child
Welfare Committee.
During the year 38 applications have been received for
home helps. 32 home helps were supplied.
Maternal Mortality.—There were four maternal deaths
during the year as compared with three in the previous
year and two the year before. The rate was equal to 2.09
per 1.000 live births whilst the rate for England and Wales
was 3.23 per 1,000. The London rate being 2.22.
The usual inquiries were made into the circumstances of
each death and a report submitted to the Ministry of
Health.
One Mother only had attended the Borough ante-natal
clinic. She attended during the early months of her
pregnancy when her condition appeared to be quite normal.
She subsequently booked a bed at one of the voluntary
hospitals and came under the ante-natal care of the staff
there. She was admitted to hospital at the commencement
of labour, which was unusually prolonged (104 hours). A
12 lbs. child was delivered dead and the mother collapsed