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179
St. Mary's Hospital.
This institution has 32 beds. Thirty of the beds are reserved
for cases sent by the Local Authority, for which an annual grant
of £3,600 is made.
I am indebted to Dr. G. Genge, the physician in charge, for
the following particulars:—
No. of cases in the Hostel on 1st Jan., 1931 18
No. of cases admitted during 1931 516
Average duration of stay 14 days.
No. of cases delivered by (a) Midwives 426
(b) Doctors 64 (12.4%)
No. of cases in which medical assistance was
sought by the midwife in emergency 60
No. of cases notified as Puerperal Fever or Puerperal
Pyrexia 9
No. of cases notified as Pemphigus neonatorum 0
„ ,, ,, Ophthalmia neonatorum 1
No. of infants not entirely breast fed 10 These babies had supplementary
feeds to
assist breast feeding.
No. of maternal deaths 0
No. of foetal deaths (a) Still-born 18
(ft) Within 10 days of birth 8 5 atelectasis, due to
premature birth.
1 congenital icterus
neonatorum
1 cerebral haemorrhage,
due to difficult
labour.
1 premature birth—28
week foetus.
Between January 1st, 1931, and March 2nd, a series of 22
cases of Impetigo Contagiosa occurred in babies born in St. Mary's
Hospital, and whilst they were resident in the Institution.
Appropriate measures were taken and in due course the outbreak
terminated. This infection when once it gets a hold in a Maternity
Hospital proves difficult of eradication, and is the cause of much
anxiety. No deaths occurred.
A special report on the outbreak was made by the Medical
Officer of Health to the Public Health Committee and to the
Ministry of Health.
The Retreat, Ross Road.
This is a home for unmarried mothers and their babies, conducted
by the National Free Church Women's Council and aided
by a grant from the Croydon Council. Although not bulking
largely as a Maternity Hospital, the work done is an important