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137
general hospital. It is stated that such a post-natal clinic
would be available for the treatment of women suffering from
gynecological conditions and for giving contraceptive advice
to women attending the clinic in whose cases further pregnancy
would, in the opinion of the medical officer, be detrimental
to their health.
Present Arrangements.
In the past no organised post-natal clinic has been held
under your Council's maternity and child welfare scheme.
Your clinic medical officer has referred special cases found to
be suffering from gynecological defects to be examined at
Queen Mary's Hospital, and individual women requiring
contraceptive advice to The East London Women's Welfare
Centre, 6, Burdett Road, E.3. In Queen Mary's Hospital
only four gynecological beds are available for post-natal cases.
Suggestion.
For such a post-natal clinic it would be necessary to
engage the part-time services of a medical officer with special
experience in gynecology and contraceptive technique. It is
estimated that, to begin with, one post-natal clinic session
per month should be held at each of the Council's two maternity
and child welfare centres.
Emergency Units.
Recommendation in Circular 1622.
The necessity for arranging in certain types of cases for
the services of skilled hospital staff to be brought to the patient
instead of subjecting her to the risk of transport to hospital.
It is suggested that the emergency unit or "flying squad"
should consist of a consultant obstetrician and a nurse with all
the necessary equipment for dealing with emergencies at short
notice, and that the unit can best be operated from a maternity
hospital or the maternity department of a general hospital.
Present Arrangements.
The idea of such "emergency units" is a relatively new
one. In the past every endeavour has been made to have
patients removed to hospital, even when gravely ill; and I
know of no case in which the advantages of in-patient treatment
in hospital were outweighed by the risk of transport to