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56 Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
five years. There are 20 cots, and the nursing staff consists
of Matron, a Sister, two Assistant Nurses and three Probationers.
A Visiting Medical Officer attends daily. The parents
pay 10s. 6d. per week for their children, but necessitous cases
are admitted free, or at a reduced fee, according to circumstances.
Medical practitioners can recommend cases for admission
and attend them while in the Hospital.
126 infants were admitted in 1927, 52 from addresses in
the Borough and 74 from outside the Borough. Most of the
cases were infants suffering from Marasmus, Gastritis and
Debility.
The Borough Council pay an annual grant of £500 to
this Hospital under their maternity and child welfare scheme.
There is one other large institution in the Borough for
the accommodation of 60 children up to the age of five years.
There are five institutions or hostels in the Borough for
the reception of expectant unmarried mothers, all in connection
with rescue work. In two of them the mothers are admitted
some months previous to the confinement, while in three they
are admitted towards the end of pregnancy. In most of these
homes the mothers are expected to remain some months after
confinement.
Arrangements have been made for a medical man to
attend at each hostel when necessary, and some of the infants
attend the most convenient Infant Welfare Centre.
Convalescent Homes.
During the year five mothers were sent to Convalescent
Homes, all of them taking their infants with them. Two
other children were also sent. Both mothers and children
derived much benefit from the change of air.
Supply of Milk.
The Council decided on the 11th April, 1918, to supply,
under the Milk (Mothers and Children) Order, milk free of cost