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Although subject to the usual inconveniences which always exist it
premises adapted and not specially designed for the work, the Home
provided very valuable service for nineteen years. After the first two
or three years, it was always filled to capacity, and in the last eight or nine
years of its existence, could not accommodate all those who sought
admission.
Additions and improvements were made as the years went by,
including the provision of a separate Isolation unit and a residential
hostel for the staff.
The overhead costs were low, and the pupils who formed nearly
50 per cent, of the staff paid fees for their training ; consequently the
total annual cost was very moderate.
During the nineteen years of its existence 5,573 patients were
admitted ; the maternal mortality rate over the whole period was 1.79
per 1,000 births ; the rate for the country as a whole during those years
was about 4 per 1,000 births. Seventy-nine pupils were trained and
passed the qualifying examination of the Central Midwives Board.
In 1934 it was evident that much more accommodation was needed
to meet the demands of the two districts.
Steps were taken to provide a new Hospital and in January, 1940,
the Hospital in Stone Park Avenue, Beckenham, was opened.
The new Hospital contained 30 lying-in beds, four beds for antenatal
cases, and a separate isolation block with four beds. Most
members of the Council will be familiar with the new building, and
although the costs of maintenance were high, it was a well designed and
equipped hospital of which any district could be justly proud.
The war brought its vicissitudes, but the work was steadily carried
on in spite of lengthy periods of enemy bombing. The difficulties of
obtaining sufficient nursing and domestic staff during these years were
very great, but a depleted staff worked with great devotion and fidelity.
For a few months in 1944, at the request of the Ministry of Health,
the Hospital was moved to Wales.
After the end of the war, the demands on the accommodation
increased enormously, and to help to meet this demand, the period of
stay in the hospital was reduced from the normal fourteen days to ten
days. In the last complete year during which it remained under the
control of the Joint Committee, nearly one thousand patients were
admitted.
In January, 1944, the Hospital was recognised by the Central
Midwives Board as a training institution under Part I of the new
Training Regulations, and the problem of securing an adequate nursing
staff was made easier. A Resident Medical Officer was appointed in
1946.
The Hospital also had the services of a Consulting Obstetrician
and a Consulting Paediatrician.
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