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110 Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
The Council has appointed as matron, Miss E. Waring,
who had previous experience as matron of the Maternity Home
at Ilford.
The staff when complete will consist, in addition to the
matron, of two sisters, two staff nurses, and six probationers,
with one outdoor nurse for district work.
Up to the end of the year five cases had been admitted, and
it is hoped that the whole of the beds will be fully occupied early
in 1921.
Hospitals and other Institutions for Expectant and Nursing
Mothers, and Young Children, as In-patients.
The Streatham Babies' Hospital is the only institution of
the kind in the Borough, and infants from any part of the
Borough are admitted. The accommodation consists of 20 cots,
including two isolation cots. The staff consists of a visiting
Medical Officer, matron, sister, two staff nurses (day and night)
and three probationers. There is also one domestic servant.
The minimum charge is 10s. 6d. per week. No child is
admitted free except in cases of extreme poverty.
Seventy-nine infants passed through the hospital during the
year, the average stay being six weeks.
The complaints from which they sufferedl were marasmus
(-35), dyspepsia, gastro-enteritis, rickets, pneumonia, bronchitis,
debility, tubercular glands, pyloric stenosis, infantile paralysis,
and talipes. Nine of the cases proved fatal, chiefly from
marasmus.
There are three institutions in the Borough for the reception
of expectant unmarried mothers, all in connection with
rescue work. The mothers are received a few months prior to
the confinement, and are expected to remain, in one instance at
least six months after; in the other two the average stay is three
months after confinement. In one home the mothers, if able, do
the domestic work of the house, and are therefore with their