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21
SECTION 2.
GENERAL PROVISION OF HEALTH SERVICES IN
THE AREA.
10. NURSING IN THE HOME.
(a) General.—The Plaistow Maternity Charity provides a staff
of nurses, who attend at the homes of the sick once or twice a day,
carry out such skilled nursing as required, and offer instructions
where advisable in hygienic home practices in relation to the
sick.
My information is that this organisation does not receive from
the public in Barking financial assistance comparable with the
amount of work they are carrying out, and that, to put it bluntly,
Barking is not paying its way.
This is not at all surprising. The appeal for the King George
Hospital is so strong and the need for this hospital so urgent, that
we are apt to overlook the equally pressing need there is for nursing
in the home. In recognising the insistent demand for raising funds
for the King George Hospital, we must not forget an organisation
which has looked after the sick in Barking these very many years.
(b) Infectious Diseases.—In the event of an epidemic, the
Council can provide nurses for such cases as may require to be
nursed in their own homes, but, as you know (vide page 13 of my
Report for 1929), I favour hospital accommodation for these cases
rather than nursing in the home.
11. MIDWIFERY.
By agreement, dated January 1st, 1924, with the Plaistow
Maternity Charity, the Council annually subsidise the Charity on
any deficit from £300 in respect of 300 District Midwifery cases
attended by the Charity reckoned at the rate of £1 per case.