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18
INSTITUTIONAL PROVISION FOR UNMARRIED MOTHERS,
ILLEGITIMATE INFANTS AND HOMELESS CHILDREN
IN THE DISTRICT.
There is no special provision of this nature available for the district
apart from that made by the Public Assistance Committee.
AMBULANCE FACILITIES.
The Council maintains 3 ambulances.
2 are in charge of the Public Health Department and are used exclusively
for infectious diseases.
The other ambulance is kept at the Fire Station and is available at all
times for accidents and other non-infectious cases, a charge being made for
its use.
CLINICS AND TREATMENT CENTRES.
The clinics and treatment centres remain as last year with the exception
of that of Mill Hill which was transferred from the Wesleyan Sunday
School, The Ridgeway, to the Methodist Church Hall, Goodwyn Avenue.
The change was made because of the greater accessibility of these latter
premises for the majority of the mothers attending the centre.
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
The services provided under the Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme
remain as in the previous year excepting that the Council became responsible
for the provision of Midwives for necessitous women confined in their own
homes, in accordance with the provisions of Section 5 of the Local Government
Act, 1929.
The question of the adequacy or otherwise of the number of maternity
beds available for the Borough was also carefully considered.
It was found that the total number of births notified was 1,700 of which
211 took place in Redhill Hospital, 61 in nursing homes inside the Borough
and 295 in nursing homes and similar institutions outside the Borough. Only
a small proportion of these as far as could be ascertained sought institutional
treatment because of bad medical or environmental conditions, a large
majority seeking admission as a matter of personal preference.
A meeting was held with neighbouring authorities to find out their
position in this matter and to decide if action of any kind was necessary, and
secondly, if so, was joint action preferable from an economical point of view.
No definite conclusions were arrived at as most of the authorities were about
either to lose or change their identity because of the re-arrangement of districts
necessitated by Section 46 of the Local Government Act, 1929,