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There is a tendency for women from other districts to come into
Westminster institutions for their confinements. The hospital beds
available are as follows:—Charing Cross, 15; St. George's, 11; Westminster,
15; St. Stephen's, 28.
751 women from other districts were confined in Westminster and 414
women belonging to the City were delivered in the hospitals mentioned
—the number in St. Stephen's alone being 202.
The number of children born to Westminster parents in institutions
outside the City numbered 538.
The following table shows the number of confinements in the hospitals
mentioned:—
Table VII.
Charing Cross Hospital: 310, of which 62 were Westminster cases.
St. George's Hospital: 257, of which 33 were Westminster cases.
Westminster Hospital: 300, of which 117 were Westminster cases.
St. Stephen's Hospital: 202. Sheffield St. Hospital: 53.
Infancy and Early Childhood.—At the centres in the City weekly
clinics are held for the purpose of giving medical advice.
The following figures give an approximate number of the births in
the four areas divided for the purposes of maternity and child
welfare:—
1, Pimlico Road. 15, Bessborough St. 30, Page St. 9, Frith St.
380 339 342 295
The health visitors attached to those centres visit the homes for
the purpose of supplementing the instructions of the medical officers,
and of advising as to how those instructions should be carried out. Home
visiting is of prime importance in maternity and child welfare, and its
place cannot be taken by teaching groups of mothers at the centre. In
the home the visitor, by seeing the actual conditions, can appreciate any
difficulties with which the mother may be contending, and much can be
cleared up in the course of a quiet talk. Visits of inquiry are necessary
in cases of ophthalmia, measles, and other infectious diseases. The
following table shows the number of visits paid in connection with the
four centres:—