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46
In the autumn it unfortunately proved necessary to report one
midwife to the Central Midwives Board, on the ground of negligence,
in that she had failed to summon medical help on the occurrence
of ophthalmia in a baby, and had failed to keep a record of
temperature and pulse. This midwife's certificate was cancelled
by the Central Midwives Board.
In several instances warnings were sent to unqualified women
who were suspected to be conducting labours in the absence of a
medical practitioner.
(b) Maternity Home—St. Mary's Hostel.
17 beds are provided at St. Mary's Hostel by the Croydon
Mothers and Infants Welfare Association. Of these, 15 are
retained by the Corporation, priority being given to abnormal and
to necessitous cases. A subsidy of £1,800 per annum is paid
towards the charges of the institution by the Corporation.
Arrangements have been put into force whereby patients referred
to the Hostel from the Ante-Natal Clinic bring with them
a note from the medical officer indicating whether they should receive
preference in admission on one or other of the above grounds,
and giving particulars as to the patient's condition.
Towards the end of the year it was decided to test experimentally
the following allocation of the beds at the Hostel: 11 for normal
cases, 3 for complicated cases, 2 for emergency cases, and 1
isolation bed.
Normal births at the Hostel are attended, under skilled supervision,
by pupil-midwives undergoing training. Abnormal cases
are attended by a rota of medical practitioners, each pair (one on
" first call," the other on " second call ") being on duty for a
week at a time. Fees according to agreed scale are paid for such
services by the Association, and a charge, usually £2, is made to
each patient for the whole course of treatment. The latter fee is
usually collected in weekly instalments at the Welfare Centres.
In the report for the previous year, reference was made to the
lack of district training for the six or seven pupil midwives taking
their course of training each year at St. Mary's Hostel. This difficulty
has now been met by an arrangement whereby each pupil
spends the last month of her four or six months' course with a
Croydon midwife, under whose personal supervision and direction
she attends the confinements in the homes of the patients and carries
on the subsequent nursing.