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147
THE OBSTETRIC SERVICE.
The obstetric service was fully described in the Annual Report for
1933.
Some of the Mayday Hospital Booked cases are sent to the
Ante-Natal Clinics by doctors and midwives because of abnormalities
and complications. Many of the Emergency cases are
seriously ill when they are received into hospital. The extent to
which the Council provides for the serious cases may be judged by
the fact that in 1933 all the 12 maternal deaths in Croydon occurred
in the Council's beds, 9 of the 11 maternal deaths in 1934, 7 of the
10 deaths in 1935, and 10 of the 13 deaths in 1936.
Taking the Registrar-General's figures for maternal mortality
(deaths directly due to pregnancy) the rate for England and Wales
for 1936 is 3.65 per 1,000 births. In Croydon there has been a rise
from 2.36 in 1935 to 3.56 in 1936. In Booked cases treated by the
Obstetric Service the rate for 1936 was 1.38 per 1,000 births.
Of the cases treated to a conclusion at the Post-Natal Clinic
during 1936, 82 per cent. were classified as "Health Unimpaired."
This signifies that anatomically and functionally their condition
was the same as before their pregnancies. The corresponding
figure for 1935 was 92.0 per cent.
The number of patients delivered in Mayday Hospital showed
an increase of 15 per cent. on the total for 1935, and the strain on
maternity accommodation is at times very great. The number of
cases delivered of viable babies in Mayday Hospital, with a nominal
22 beds, was 768. The number delivered in St. Mary's Maternity
Hospital, with 30 beds, was 575.