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52
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
It is not essential for the Probationers to be fully trained
nurses, but it is an advantage if they are. The Home has been
particularly fortunate in this respect, as all the Probationers who
have been engaged as pupil midwives since it was opened have
been fully trained nurses. Thirty of them have passed the Examination
of the Central Midwives' Board as a result of the training
given.
Medical Staff.—Most of the women in the Home are
attended at their confinements by the trained Midwives on the
Staff, but arrangements can be made beforehand for a Doctor
to attend if complications are expected, or, if the patient wishes
it, she can be attended by her own medical attendant. There
is a rota of nine general practitioners who are called in turn by
the Matron when certain complications occur during the course
of a confinement, as required by the regulation of the Central
Midwives' Board, and the Doctor is paid a scaled fee by the London
County Council under the Midwives' Act for this service.
There is also a Consulting Staff, consisting of two obstetric
surgeons, two general surgeons, one eye surgeon and two physicians,
who are called in as required by the doctor attending the case.
In December the Council appointed Mr. Aleck Bourne as
Visiting Obstetric Surgeon to the Home. This gentleman, who
is in Consulting Midwifery practice in London, now visits the
Home at fixed times twice a week and sees all the patients at
each visit. He supervises the medical and nursing work of the
Home, consulting with the Practitioners on the rota as required,
and decides whether each patient is fit to be discharged at her
appointed time.
Patients admitted.—All expectant mothers resident in the
Borough are eligible for admission to the Home on application
to the Matron, and women residing outside the Borough are admitted
provided all the accommodation in the Home is not required