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A charge of 35s. per case is made for the midwife's attendance,
but this charge may be remitted in part in necessitous
cases. During 1925 a sum of £172 18s. 0d. was recovered from
lying-in women who were attended by the municipal midwife.
The midwife attends all ante-natal clinics (about 60 in the
year), and during 1925 made 1,681 visits to mothers in their
homes.
The supervision of midwives is the duty of the Middlesex
County Council.
Maternity Homes.—Although the Borough has no maternity
home of its own, the Town Council has made arrangements
for the admission of lying-in women, on the recommendation
of their Medical Officer, to the North Middlesex Hospital and
to the Royal Free Hospital, at. a charge in the former instance
of 6s. a day and in the latter of 10s. a day. During 1925
thirty women from Hornsey were admitted to one or other of
these institutions at a total cost of £162 4s. 0d. Towards this
sum the mothers themselves contributed £70 16s. 6d.
Centres.—There are now three Maternity and Child Welfare
centres in the Borough, the third centre having been opened
at Highgate in October, 1925. The new centre is situated in
a building belonging to All Saints Church at the junction of
Church Road and North Hill. The accommodation consists of
two large rooms and two small rooms on the first floor with
useful attics above and kitchen premises below. Gas heating
has been installed throughout, and a pram shed has been built
in the adjoining yard. The total cost of the necessary alteration
and re-decoration amounted to £279.
Seven ordinary sessions are held weekly and seven antenatal
sessions monthly throughout the Borough. Dr. Flora
Shepherd attends the former and Dr. Muir the latter. Attendances
of mothers are highly satisfactory, as reference to
Table I. will show. The average number of attendances at
each ordinary session was 42.1, and at each ante-natal session
was 9.
Health Visitors.— An additional Health Visitor was
appointed in 1925, there being now four women engaged in
this work. The health visiting staff and the school nursing
staff are quite separate, save in one respect, that both staffs