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were general practitioners' cases, and the doctors have
welcomed the opportunity of doing midwifery under
good conditions, which has no doubt been of benefit
both to the patients and doctors concerned.
(c) Consultant Services. Better use of these services
has been made during 1938, especially through the
cases admitted to the Maternity Home. The Consultant
was called on one occasion for domiciliary consultation,
and on three occasions to the Maternity Home for consultation
with the doctor in charge of the case.
To provide an ante-natal consultation clinic for use
by patients to be admitted to the Home a monthl, clinic
has been instituted since August, 1938, at the Maternity
Home when the Obstetric Consultant attends and sees
cases referred there from the ante-natal clinics or by
general practitioners. This obviates the difficulty of the
journey in sending women far advanced in pregnancy
to the City of London Maternity Hospital out-patients'
Department, and provides a full local ante-natal scheme.
1938.
No. of consultation clinics 5
No. of cases seen 25
No. sent by general practitioners Nil
(d) Maternity Accommodation. No alteration has
been made during the year 1938. The Corporation
Maternity Home has been booked to the maximum
number of cases it could deal with without overcrowding.
This means, in midwifery work, that all the beds
may be occupied one week and several empty beds at
another period, as the day of confinement cannot be forecast
exactly. For the 24 available beds 42 cases per
month are booked and although non-residents of the
Borough are no longer taken, all the beds are usually
booked up six months in advance. In 1938, 44 residents
of the Borough could not be booked owing to lack of
accommodation.
Many mothers from this Borough are confined in
the British Hospital for Mothers' and Babies', Woolwich,
and the War Memorial Hospital, Shooters Hill.
These institutions are booked up as soon as, or even
earlier than, the Corporation Maternity Home, so that
with the continued growth of the Borough, and the
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