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33
out with the money at their disposal. Unfortunately there is much wastage of material and misuse of
money due to unintelligent shopping, bad cooking and unappetising serving of food. To improve
this we hope in the near future to have a series of practical lectures on these questions from the housewife's
point of view, thereby linking up the practical aspect with the theoretical requirements.
"The tracking down and correction of various deformities requires constant vigilance on the part
of health visitors and in addition to the cases sent up by doctors many are brought to the clinic through
the health visitors, who notice the defect when visiting people in their own homes. It is this constant
co-operation between various workers in the Borough that helps to carry forward the work of improving
the general physique of the community.''
Supply of Dried Milk, Etc., at Consultation Centres.
£ s. d.
Purchases of Dried Milks, Drugs, etc. 1,217 18 4
Sales 955 15 1
Grants from Borough Council 251 1 1
Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital.—During the year 1934, 126 infants of mothers resident
in Paddington attended the Infant Consultation Centre. The average number of attendances per
infant was 10.6.
As regards ante-natal consultations, exact figures are not available.
During 1934 there were received into the Hospital for confinement 189 women from Paddington.
This number is approximately equal to the number of women from Paddington attending the antenatal
department during the year, and the average number of attendances was 8 per patient.
With regard to out-patients in 1934, 298 Paddington women were delivered in their own homes
by midwives from the hospital; each of these would have attended the ante-natal department about
8 times on the average.
St. Mary's Hospital.—There is no Infant Consultation Centre at this Hospital, but Ante-natal
Consultations are held. There are no figures available as to the number of Paddington mothers who
attended such consultations, but the number of Paddington mothers delivered at their own homes
during 1934 was 109, and presumably all of these received ante-natal examination and advice, as well
as the 248 women who were admitted to the Borough Council's Maternity Wards. (See below.)
Maternity Nursing.—The arrangement whereby the Paddington and St. Marylebone District
Nursing Association provides the services of trained maternity nurses in connection with lying-in
cases attended by the students and the Medical Officer of the Extern Midwifery Department of
St. Mary's Hospital, continued in operation throughout the year. The results of this arrangement
are excellent although it is not possible to adduce any figures in support of this statement.
During the year 1934, 109 confinements were attended by the nursing staff, the number of visits
being 1,863. These figures compare with similar ones of 136 and 2,495 in the year 1933. The annual
grant in aid of this work is now £175.
Maternity Wards.—Under an agreement made with the Board of Management of St. Mary's
Hospital, a suite of wards containing 14 beds became available in the Hospital on the 1st April, 1933,
for patients accepted for admission by the Borough Council. The agreement is for a period of five years
and provides for payment to be made to the Board at the rate of 9s. per day for each bed, whether
occupied cr not, the annual amount being approximately £2,300.
The following scale has been adopted by the Council for the assessment of cases for admission to
the maternity wards, subject to such variation as the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee deem
necessary or desirable, having regard to the financial position of the family. The charges specified
are based on the assumption that the applicant will receive one maternity benefit only, and that the
family consists of not more than one child:—
Where the amount of
family income (after deducting
rent and insurance)
is under £2 0s. 0d. the charge to be fixed by the Committee.
„ „ is between £2 0s. 0d. and £2 10s. 0d. the minimum charge per case to be £3 0s. 0d.
„ „ ,, £2 10s. 0d. and £3 0s. 0d. „ „ „ £4 0s. 0d.
„ „ ,, £3 0s. 0d. and £3 10s. 0d. „ „ „ £5 0s. 0d.
„ „ „ £3 10s. 0d. and £4 0s. 0d. „ „ „ £6 0s. 0d.
Where there are two maternity benefits and the father is in regular employment, an endeavour will be
made to recover a maximum fee of £8 8s. 0d. per case. A booking fee of 10s. will be charged in each case
which will be taken in part payment of the scale fee.