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91
Local Maternity Home.
Of the 2,437 births to Harrow mothers last year 1,377 occurred
in private houses, 521 in local nursing and maternity homes and
539 outside the district. Most of this last category occurred in
institutions. Excluding the 141 at Redhill County Hospital, the
vast majority occurred in London maternity or general hospitals,
the institutions most frequently used being Queen Charlotte's
Hospital (136 births), City of London Maternity Hospital (40),
Queen Mary's Maternity Hospital (24), University College Hospital
(23), and Middlesex Hospital (20).
56 per cent. of the births then took place at the homes of
mothers, and 44 per cent. in institutions, of which 21 per cent. of
the total were in local maternity institutions and 23 per cent. in
outside hospitals and maternity homes.
The following analysis indicates the reasons for which the
mothers attending the local clinics had their confinements in
hospitals:—
1. Medical grounds 31 per cent.
2. Domestic difficulties, such as lack of
tion, no attendant, etc. 15 per cent.
3. Economic grounds 5 per cent.
4. First pregnancy 43 per cent.
5. Personal preference 6 per cent.
Discussions of the needs for maternity beds in this district
had been taking place for years. In 1933 a conference had taken
place on the possibility of the Willesden Council being able to
provide accommodation for cases referred by Wembley, Kingsbury,
Wealdstone, Hendon and Harrow. Nothing further transpired as
an outcome of these deliberations.
In November, 1934, a report was submitted to the Maternity
and Child Welfare Committee on the question of institutional
accommodation for maternity cases. It was pointed out that the
policy of the Ministry of Health followed one of the recommendations
of the Departmental Committee on Maternal Mortality and
Morbidity, viz., "that new maternity units should, where practicable,
be provided in association with general hospitals rather than
as isolated units." With regard to this, the only hospital in the
district which could provide maternity accommodation is the
Harrow and Wealdstone Hospital, at which it is understood there
is no likelihood of provision being made for this service. The only
other institution in the locality to be considered was the Redhill
County Hospital which contains a maternity block of 25 beds, to
be increased to a figure of 60. This institution serves Hendon
Borough and the Urban Districts of Wembley and of Harrow, a
present population of some 400,000, with some 6,000 births
annually. The proposed 60 beds could not meet the needs of the