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Maternity and Child Welfare. 55
4. Home helps.—Home helps were provided in
twenty-four cases, in only four of which was it necessary
for the Council to defray the cost. These home helps
have proved of great advantage, and there is no doubt
that their services will be utilized more and more as
years go on. It has not been possible to give the
home helps a definite course of training, but they receive
personal instruction from the health visitors who
supervise their work, only those women who prove a
success being kept on the list of those employed. The
rate of remuneration is £1 1s. per week.
5. Maternity aid.—A midwife was provided free of
charge by the Council in five cases.
6. Medical aid.—Although by the Midwives Act, 1915,
the duty of paying the medical practitioners' fees when
called in by midwives was placed upon the County
Council, the Borough Council decided that as they had
already arranged to pay the practitioners' fees in such
cases they would not alter the arrangements. Thus the
Borough Council continues to pay for medical aid called
in by midwives.
There were four occasions on which medical men were
called in by midwifes during the year, and the total
expenditure by the Council in fees was £3 14s.
7. Consultant aid.—Dr. Bell was called in by doctors
on eight occasions to deal with abnormalities which
included ante-partum haemorrhage, post-partum haemorrhage,
albuminuria, contracted pelvis and septicaemia.
8. Hospital provision for normal and abnormal
confinements.—This provision for normal cases has
been more in theory than in practice for Dr. Bell's
Home has been taxed to its utmost capacity by private
patients, and efforts have been made to secure the
admission of the women to the Isleworth Infirmary or