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108
Ante-Natal Consultative Centre.
The agreement between the Borough Council and the City of London Maternity
Hospital, under which cases have been referred to this Clinic, expired on the 31st March.
The following is the report received from the Secretary for the first three months
of the year, viz. :—
"The total number of cases dealt with was 116, all of whom were examined
by the Obstetric Surgeon in charge of the Department; the number of
examinations by the Surgeon was 270 and by the Sister 139.
"The number of patients delivered in the district during the period under
review was 28, and in the Hospital, 66. Urine was tested in all cases."
With a view to carrying on and extending the excellent principle of co-operation
with Hospitals embodied in the agreement just terminated, the Council entered into
fresh agreements—one with the City of London Maternity Hospital and the other
with St. Bartholomew's Hospital, under which cases could be referred for
examination and report by a member of the Honorary Staff for a fee of half-a-guinea,
and for admission to the wards at a charge of two guineas per week.
Ministry of Health Memorandum 156/M.C.W.
This important Memorandum was issued by the Ministry of Health in December.
At the end of the year the Committee were engaged in a careful consideration of the
Ministry's suggestions in relation to the arrangements for maternal care already
in being in this Borough.
Although nothing was definitely settled during the year covered by this report,
it may be noted that these deliberations led to the recommendation that an additional
Ante-Natal Clinic should be opened and that a Municipal Midwife should be
appointed.
Local Government Act, 1929.
This Act, which came into force on 1st April, introduced important changes in
the administrative arrangements in connection with Maternity and Child Welfare.
The 50 per cent. grant payable by the Ministry of Health upon approved expenditure
which has proved of such assistance to a young and growing service has been
discontinued. The equivalent of the grant previously made is now included in the
Treasury block grant which is revised every few years.
The change from percentage grant to block grant was viewed with apprehension
by many of those who are keenly interested in the expansion of Maternity and Child
Welfare, as assistance from the Treasury for new schemes or extensions rendered
necessary now lags behind any fresh expenditure incurred by the local authority.
It is to be hoped that these fears will prove groundless, and that the growth of
the Maternity and Child Welfare services which are of great and far reaching importance
to the health of the Nation will continue unchecked both in the Borough and
in the country as a whole.
The discontinuance of the Ministry of Health grant has placed local authorities
in a different relationship to the voluntary organisation to whom this grant was